An upright, arching, deciduous shrub typically grows 6-10' tall and as wide. Branches spreading or pendulous; branchlets yellow-brown or gray-brown; internodes hollow. Leaves simple, sometimes 3-parted to 3-foliolate; petiole 0.8-1.5 cm, glabrous or sometimes pubescent; leaf blade ovate, broadly ovate, or elliptic-ovate, 2-10 × 1.5-5 cm, subleathery, glabrous or sometimes pubescent, or abaxially villous, especially along veins, base rounded to cuneate, margin serrate, apex acute. Flowers solitary or 2 to several in leaf axils. Pedicel 5-6 mm. Calyx lobes oblong, (5-)6-7 mm, ciliate. Corolla yellow; tube subequal to calyx lobes; lobes obovate-oblong or oblong, 1.2-2 cm. Pistil 5-7 mm in flowers with stamens 3-5 mm or ca. 3 mm in flowers with stamens 6-7 mm. Capsule ovoid to long ellipsoid, 1.2-2.5 cm × 6-12 mm, with scattered lenticels; stalk 0.7-1.5 cm.

Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal (seeds); antiseptic (herb); stimulates the heart, nervous system, gall bladder, antidote, antiphlogistic, antitussive, diuretic, emmenagogue, febrifuge, laxative and tonic (fruit)

Forsythia suspensa (Thunb.) Vahl
Plants for a Future

Arctiin, betulinic acid, oleanolic acid, suspensaside, ursolic acid (fruit); phillyrin (bark, fruit, leaf); quercetin (flower); rutin (flower, fruit); syringin (leaf)

To treat boils, carbuncles, urinary tract infections, allergic rashes, mumps and infected neck glands (herb); in the treatment of breast cancer (decoction of the leaves and twigs); cancer, colds, fever and jaundice (root); poulticed onto ulcerated glands and haemorrhoids (leaves); used internally in the treatment of acute infectious diseases such as mumps, and also for tonsillitis, urinary tract infections and allergic rashes (fruit).