Glochidion zeylanicum Seeds | Ceylon Glochidion
LATIN NAME: Glochidion zeylanicum
COMMON NAME: Ceylon Glochidion
Plant Profile
Glochidion zeylanicum is a small evergreen tree of coastal thickets and secondary forest, five to ten metres tall, with glossy leaves in two ranks and a dense, rounded crown that stands wind and salt. The flowers are tiny and greenish, clustered in the leaf axils, and the fruit is a small, ribbed, flattened capsule that looks like a miniature cheese and gives the group its common name of cheesewood. It is a tough, unglamorous tree that holds ground where the coast is exposed. Its bark is pale grey and smooth, and the branchlets hang in a neat, tiered arrangement. The fruit hangs in clusters below the leaves.
Science & Biotechnology
The genus is famous for its pollination mutualism with Epicephala moths, and G. zeylanicum is one of the species in which the relationship has been examined: the female moth pollinates a flower and lays an egg in the ovary, and the larva consumes only a fraction of the seeds. Beyond that, the species has been studied in coastal ecology for its salt tolerance and its ability to stabilise sandy soils, and its leaf chemistry has been screened in ethnopharmacological surveys of Sri Lankan and Indian medicinal plants. It sits in Phyllanthaceae, the leaf-flower family, which was separated from the spurges on molecular evidence. Its leaves are also browsed by deer and its fruit eaten by birds, which spreads the seed along fence lines and forest edges.
Uses & Benefits
The wood is light, soft and pale and is used for small turnery and fuel, and the leaves serve as fodder in dry seasons. In traditional medicine the bark and leaves have been applied to skin complaints and used as a wash, though the evidence is survey-level rather than clinical. In the garden it is a good windbreak and screen for a warm coast, tolerant of salt spray, poor sand and pruning, and its neat two-ranked foliage gives a tidy, formal outline without any clipping. It also makes a reasonable small street tree where space is tight. It is also planted as a nurse tree in coastal reclamation, where its litter builds a thin soil and its roots hold the sand.
Growing from Seed
Sow fresh seed, cleaned of the thin aril, at about a centimetre depth in a free-draining mix at twenty-two to twenty-eight degrees. Germination takes three to six weeks and fresh seed is far more reliable than stored. Grow the seedling in bright, filtered light and keep it humid for the first season, then harden it to full sun. It tolerates sand, salt and wind once established, and it responds well to light pruning to make a dense screen. Plant it in spring, after the risk of frost, and stake it for the first year on an exposed site. It also makes a good tub specimen for a courtyard. Feed it once in spring with a balanced fertiliser if the leaves yellow.
Our Take
An unshowy coastal tree that does the hard work of a windbreak, with a private arrangement with a moth in its twigs. Plant it where the salt gets in.
Related Reading
More species in the same orbit as Ceylon Glochidion: