Eucommia ulmoides TREE SEEDS

LATIN NAME: Eucommia ulmoides

COMMON NAME: Hardy Rubber Tree

The hardy rubber tree sends the oval, pointed leaves along the spreading branches, the fine, rubbery threads showing where the leaf tears, and the whole tree carries the fine, solid look of the old hills. The slow-growing, deciduous tree of the cool hills carries the ovate, pointed, sharply serrate leaves along the spreading branches, and the small, greenish flowers in the little axillary clusters through the early spring, one of the solid, quiet sights of the old hills, drawing the bees, to be followed by the small, winged, single-seeded fruits. The rubbery threads of the bark and leaves have a very long record in the old practice of the cool lands, and the tree is a historic presence of the old hills. It is a tree of the open, sunny, deep, rich, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The hardy rubber tree is a historic subject of the plant science, and the rubbery threads keep showing up in the work on the gum plants. The way the fine, elastic threads form in the bark and the torn leaves has been examined closely, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the gum plants, the serrate leaves and the members of the eucommia family. The elastic threads and the solid habit have also made it a fine study tree, and the hardy rubber tree is a regular subject of the work on the rubbery threads of the cool world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The hardy rubber tree is a solid, useful tree of the old hills and the study collection. The ovate, pointed, sharply serrate leaves along the spreading branches carry the solid look of the old hills, one of the solid, quiet sights of the old hills, drawing the bees, and the rubbery threads of the bark and leaves have a very long record in the old practice of the cool lands, the dried bark coming to the old remedies and the steady practice of the old shops, while the small, greenish flowers in the little axillary clusters open through the early spring, to be followed by the small, winged, single-seeded fruits. It is one of the fine choices for the old hills, the specimen lawn and the study collection, and it has been written about in the botanical and the scientific papers for the rubbery threads and the very long history. It is a solid, useful tree of the open, sunny, deep, rich, well-drained garden.

The eucommia seeds start well in a fine, sandy mix kept lightly moist. The young trees are slow at first but steady, and they appreciate the deep, rich, well-drained ground of the open garden and a sunny start.

To grow the hardy rubber tree from seed, sow the small, winged seeds into the tray of fine, sandy soil, then cover them lightly, keep the tray in a bright, open spot and water gently. The seedlings push through within a few weeks, and they grow on steadily. With the sun and the deep, rich, well-drained ground, the rubbery threads will show in the leaves over the years.

Eucommia bark and tea, herb and leaf by Ray Sahelian, M.D. index of Integrative Medicine
Eucommia Ulmoides – Du Zhong – Tochu. For a list of herbs used in Chinese medicine, see Chinese Herbs.

Eucommia Ulmoides Chemical composition
Eucommia has many substances including: geniposidic acid, iridoids, aucubin, gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid, (-)epicatechin, catechin, n-octacosanoic acid), tetracosanoic-2, 3-dihydroxypropylester, rutin.
A new flavonol glycoside, quercetin 3-O-alpha-L-arabinopyranosyl-(1–>2)-beta-D-glucopyranoside, and known flavonols kaempferol 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (astragalin), quercetin 3-O-beta-D-glucopyranoside (isoquercitrin) were isolated from the leaves of Eucommia ulmoides.

Historical uses of Eucommia
Eucommia ulmoides leaves have been used as a folk remedy for the treatment of diabetes in Korea. The bark and leaves of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv (Eucommiaceae) have been used as tonic and anti-stress drug in China.

Benefit of Eucommia
The extracts of Eucommia show anti-hypertensive, anti-complementary, anti-oxidative, and anti-gastric ulcer effects, and promoting collagen synthesis, accelerating granuloma formation, and other pharmacological effects. Water extracts of Eucommia eaves have been reported to have potent antioxidant and antimutagenic effects.

Availability
Eucommia is sold as bark extract or as eucommia tea, or mixed in a wide range of formulas.

Eucommia ulmoides Research study
Endothelium-dependent vasorelaxant effects of the aqueous extracts of the Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. leaf and bark: implications on their antihypertensive action.
Vascul Pharmacol. 2003. Kwan CY, Chen CX, Deyama T, Nishibe S. HSC-4N40, Department of, Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada
The vascular effects of three extract preparations from the Chinese medicinal herb, Eucommia ulmoides Oliv., which is historically an active ingredient commonly used in antihypertensive herbal prescriptions in China, were investigated with isometric contraction using isolated rat aortic and dog carotid rings. Both aqueous extracts isolated from eucommia leaf (L) and bark (B) concentration dependently caused endothelium-dependent relaxation in vessels precontracted with 1 microM phenylephrine (PE), but the methanol extract of the leaf (M) had no effect. Vessels precontracted with KCl and de-endothelialized vessels precontracted with PE were not affected by B or L. The endothelium-dependent relaxation evoked by B and L was either abolished or substantially inhibited by NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME) and methylene blue (MB), indicating the involvement of the nitric oxide (NO) synthase pathway in the vasorelaxant action of B and L. The relaxation to the aqueous extract of eucommia bark was not inhibited with 1 microM atropine, but was inhibited by 3-5 mM tetraethylammonium (TEA) and 3 mM 4-aminopyridine. This suggests that the endothelium-dependent, NO-mediated relaxation evoked by the aqueous eucommia extracts was not mediated via the activation of endothelium muscarinic receptors and may involve the activation of K+ -channels. Results in this study have provided the first evidence on the in vitro vasorelaxant action of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. that forms the pharmacological basis for its well-documented antihypertensive action.

Is eucommia the same as eurycoma?
No, they are different herbs.