Plant ID -- might be difficult :-).


Hello all --
Anyone want to have to try at identifying a mystery shrub?  At three years old, it has never bloomed for me, which makes it especially difficult.  Adding to that, I'm not sure whether to call it deciduous or evergreen.  It keeps its leaves through the winter, but they drop off in early spring, just as the buds of the new leaves are beginning to swell.  It has a period of about a week during which it is leafless.  Not that different from how lavender vera and sagebrush behave here (USDA zone 8, Sunset zone 6, western Oregon) and they're both considered evergreen...

All right, for those who haven't given up yet :-) here's the description:
Dense-growing, upright woody shrub.  Leaves alternate, 2 cm x 1.5 cm, shiny, dark green, serrated.  Leaf veins are deep grooves, and extend from the leaf center like the ribs of an animal, rather than a fan (I forget the botanical term for this).  New growth lighter green, with reddish stems.  Overall growth habit reminds me of an evergreen huckleberry, but it's not that.  After three years in partial shade with lots of compost, it's about waist-high.  It makes no objection to the shade, but perhaps would grow faster in more sun.  Looks overall like a plant with good potential, and I would appreciate ANY suggestions of possible genus, as I have no clue where to start looking :-).  It's probably something incredibly common -- I have a tendency to know the less well-known plants and to be oblivious to the ones sold at every big box nursery.
Thanks much,
-- Susannah
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