Parrotiopsis jacquemontiana comes from the western Himalayas and was first collected by Victor Jacquemont, a French botanist whose brief life ended at 31 from cholera while on expedition in Asia. The plant named in his honor is a longer-lived proposition, a deciduous shrub or small tree in the witch hazel family that matures at around 20 feet tall and 13 feet wide with a rounded, oval form. The spring flowers — yellow stamens encircled by four to six white bracts — appear before the leaves, making them conspicuous against bare stems. The foliage that follows has a glossy, slightly wrinkled texture that gives the plant character through the growing season.

Flowering ironwood grows best in partial shade with a fertile, acidic loam, though it tolerates most soil types reasonably well. It often appears as an understory plant in its native range and performs well in similar conditions in cultivation. Propagation by stem cuttings or layering is more reliable than seed, which can take 18 months to germinate and requires alternating cycles of heat and cold. Given time and a suitable spot in a woodland garden or shrub border, it proves to be a long-lived and distinguished plant with no serious pest or disease problems.