Cercidiphyllum japonicum seed
LATIN NAME: Cercidiphyllum japonicum
COMMON NAME: Katsura Tree
In the autumn, a katsura tree gives off a smell that stops people in their tracks: the fallen leaves smell of brown sugar and burnt caramel, a sweet, warm scent that carries on the damp air. The katsura grows as a tall, broad, deciduous tree, reaching up to twenty metres or more, with the round, heart-shaped, blue-green leaves that are held on the short stalks and turn a glowing gold, orange and rose in the autumn, and with the fine, horizontal branching that gives the crown a graceful, layered look. It is one of the great autumn trees of the temperate garden, and it is a tree of the cool, moist hill forests of the eastern Asia, known as the katsura tree.
The katsura tree belongs to the katsura family, Cercidiphyllaceae, and it is a tall, broad, deciduous tree of the cool, moist hill forests of the eastern Asia. Its round, heart-shaped leaves and its glowing autumn colour are its great show. It is known as the katsura tree, and it is treasured for its autumn colour and its caramel scent.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The katsura tree has been studied in the botany for its old lineage and its fine autumn colour, and the plant keeps showing up in the accounts of the great autumn trees of the garden. Botanists have examined the tree’s place in its own small family, a very old line with few living members, and the round, heart-shaped leaves have been looked at for the way they turn and fall. The warm, caramel-like scent of the fallen leaves has been noted as a quiet curiosity, and the tree’s fine, layered crown has made it a subject of the garden study. For a tree with such an old and gentle story, the katsura tree has a rich and continuing record of study.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
For the temperate garden, the katsura tree is a tree of the great autumn show. Its round, heart-shaped, blue-green leaves turn a glowing gold, orange and rose in the autumn, and the fallen leaves give off the warm, caramel-like scent that fills the damp air of the season. In its homeland the tree is a familiar of the cool, moist hill forests, and away from home it has become one of the most planted of the great autumn trees. It is a fine, graceful tree for the lawn and the border, and its autumn colour and scent are two of the quiet pleasures of the season. For a gardener who wants a tree with two seasons of show, the katsura tree is a fine choice.
The katsura tree is a very old tree, a survivor of a line that has been on the earth since the time of the dinosaurs, and it is one of the few living members of its ancient family. It is a tree of the cool, moist hill forests of the eastern Asia, and it has been carried to the gardens of the temperate world for its fine, graceful crown and its glowing autumn colour. In the autumn the round, heart-shaped leaves turn a glowing gold, orange and rose, and the fallen leaves give off the warm, caramel-like scent that has made the tree a quiet favourite of the season. It is a fine, graceful tree for the lawn and the border.
These seeds are best given a cold, damp rest — mix them with a little moist peat or sand in a bag and keep it in the fridge through the winter, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of moist, leafy, free-draining soil in the spring, keep them moist in a bright, sheltered spot, and they’ll be up in their own good time.
It is a beautiful tree that gets unique cordate green leaves which take on a purple hue in spring and also color up nicely in fall.
Cercidiphyllum japonicum, commonly known as Katsura is a tree to some 45 metres in height found naturally in Japan, northern China and east Asia. It is a cold hardy, deciduous tree that is renowned for its beauty, particularly in the autumn with its vibrant colour change. It makes an excellent ornamental, specimen tree or bonsai subject.
This tree has male and female forms. Male trees are usually single trunked in a slender conical shape. Female trees normally produce multiple trunks and branches are as wide as the height of the tree.
The furrowed, dark brown bark shreds along the main branches and trunk of older trees giving a shaggy appearance. Leaves are basically heartshaped and from 3 to 8 cm in length and 3 to 6 cm in width. They open a purplish-pink shade in the spring, turn a dark blue-green during the summer and change to bright yellow, pink and orange-red in the autumn. The leaves emit a scent of burnt sugar, which becomes stronger when a leaf is crushed. The flowers are inconspicuous, small wind-pollinated catkins; the fruit is a cluster of 2-4 small pods, each pod 1 cm long with numerous small, flattened and winged seeds.
Katsura is a highly ornamental tree, grown for its delicate leaves and bright autumn colour. Where conditions are suitable, it is fast-growing, but it is very sensitive to drought and needs deep, permanently moist soil. It is very frost hardy. Plant in full sun to light shade. It is at its best in moist, but well-drained, fertile, loamy soil.