Maackia chinensis seed

LATIN NAME: Maackia chinensis

COMMON NAME: Chinese Maackia

The Chinese maackia is a handsome, upright, open, deciduous tree of the warm forests, and its fine, pinnate leaves of the many oval leaflets and its small, white or creamy-white, pea-like flowers in the upright clusters, followed by the flat, brown pods, have made it a treasured and fine tree of the region. It grows as an upright, open, deciduous tree, reaching up to fifteen metres or more, with the upright, branching trunk bearing the alternate, pinnate leaves of the many oval, pointed leaflets and, through the summer, the small, white or creamy-white, pea-like flowers in the upright clusters, followed by the flat, brown pods of the few hard seeds. It is a species of the flowering tree in the pea family, and it is native to the warm forests of the eastern Asia, while it is prized for its fine, white, pea-like flowers and its fine, tough form, and it is known as the Chinese maackia.

In the pea family it is the white-flowered, nitrogen-fixing tree of the warm forests, a species that feeds the ground as it shades the garden.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Chinese maackia holds a recognised place in the soil-ecology papers of the pea trees, and the partnership between its roots and the soil bacteria that draws the nitrogen from the air has kept the ecologists interested for years. The botanists have mapped its place in the pea family and the warm forest flora, and the insect ecologists have watched the bees come to the small, white, pea-like flowers. It is a tree of the quiet, hard-working kind, and the growers of the park and the street keep it in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the park and the garden, the Chinese maackia is the white-flowered tree that feeds the ground. Its pea-like flowers feed the bees, its flat, brown pods feed the birds, and the open, leafy crown gives the garden a fine, light shade while the roots feed the soil. The tough, adaptable growth has made it a valued tree of the park, the street and the garden. White-flowered, tough and soil-building.

Drop the hard seeds into a cup of warm water and leave them to soak for a day, then sow them at a shallow depth in pots of sandy, free-draining soil, keep the pots warm and bright and water them regularly, and the first shoots will come up steadily.