Mystery....Euphorbia?

My students and I encountered this plant at the Museum of the American Indian last week.  Damn, if I'm not stumped on what it is.  Any ideas?

At first glance, I thought it may be an Aslcepias, primarily because it looked like milkweed bugs were on the stem. But after reviewing this old post, I'm pretty sure they aren't milkweed bugs and certain this isn't an Asclepias (though the stem, when broken, did emit a milky glaze). 

The overall habit reminds me of an Euphobia, though I can't confirm a particular species.  The jointed stems also have me a bit stumped. Whataever it is, I love the variable fall color, with orangey green hues along the center, turning deep burgundy at the leaves' edges.

Edgeworthia chrysantha

No joke, last Saturday I saw this plant along Washington Avenue, approaching the USBG and I double-parked and jumped out of the car to inspect more closely.  I was pretty sure it was, for me, a new discovery. 

And indeed it was: Edgeworthia chysantha, or paperbush.  There's not much online about this plant but Dirr nails my particular experience when he writes "Makes a nifty woodland plant and is a great teaser for the visitor who knows everything."  

The plant is in the Thymelaeaceae family and is thus related to Daphne.  You can see some similarity between the flowers of Daphne and these umbelliferous inflorescences.  Edgeworthia is also, like Daphne, faintly fragrant.  I love the fuzzy, waxy quality of the flowers and the somewhat surprising discovery of a bright yellow after identifying the flowers as white from afar.    

The USBG identifies this plant as E. gardneri and other sources cite is as E. papyrifera, but the exact nomenclature is a bit muddy.  The plant is native to forests and streamlands in China and has been used for paper and medicinal purposes. The foliage (which I've yet to witness myself) is evidently broadleaved, elliptical and bluish in hue.  

Symphoricarpus orbiculatus

I stumbled across this plant last November and was dually stymied and excited to be confronted with another plant mystery.   I don't mean that to come across the wrong way - I, by no means, am capable of identifying every plant in the world.  But I do know most of the plants that are popular in the landscape trade.  This one was a mystery.

 

I don't know what I'd do if I were in this profession forty years ago -- I'd have spent hours going through plant books, hoping to stumble across a drawing that was close to what I was looking at.  I still do that now, of course, as evidenced by this week's gift list.  But the internet and google do make plant detective work that much easier.  I simply searched the terms: pink berries clusters opposite leaved shrub.  And by the fourth page of results (after many photos of the wonderful Callicarpa) I found Symphoricarpos orbiculatus, or coralberry or Indian currant.

Now, granted, I'm not 100% certain this is the same shrub, but I'm 98%.  As you can see the fruits were fattening up in November.  By now they should be fully formed.  Coralberry is a loose, sprawling shrub and is in the Caprifoliaceae or honeysuckle family.  This plant was rambling along a path and looked very much like it could be related to Lonicera.  Anyone recognize it and would like to agree or contest?

Symphoricarpos orbiculatus shares a genus with S. albus or snowberry.  This plant is a smaller, lower growing shrub with (as the common name suggests) white fruit.  Since the fruit is showy, it makes sense that (like Callicarpa) "carpos" is in the genus name, since that means body or fruit.  Symph- is derivative of the Greek word that means "in agreement or concord" (like a symphony playing together, or being sympathetic to a friend) and essentially the genus means "fruit borne together."