 In 2013, it was suggested that "Kolkwitzia", along with the genera "Abelia", "Diabelia", "Dipelta" and "Vesalea", be merged into an expanded genus "Linnaea".The beauty bush originates in Central China, where it has been discovered for science twice, once by the Jesuit missionary Giuseppe Giraldi in Shensi and then in western Hubei province, by E.H. 'Chinese' Wilson who was collecting for Veitch Nurseries and who introduced it into horticulture.Wilson sent plant material to his sponsors Veitch Nurseries in Exeter, in 1901, where the shrub flowered for the first time in 1910.