Meliosma veitchiorum Seeds | Meliosma

Meliosma (Meliosma veitchiorum) with large pinnate leaves and drooping clusters of creamy flowers — Meliosma (*Meliosma veitchiorum*): Sabiaceae, a stately Chinese tree with long cream flower tassels.

LATIN NAME: Meliosma veitchiorum

COMMON NAME: Meliosma

Plant Profile

The Veitch Meliosma is a tall, upright, deciduous tree from the mountain forests of central and western China, and one of the handsomest of a genus few Western gardens have met. Its leaves are large and pinnate, up to forty centimetres long, with glossy, toothed leaflets that hang from reddish stalks and give the crown a bold, almost tropical weight. In early summer the branch ends are weighted with long, drooping panicles of small creamy-white flowers, a froth that stands out against the deep foliage and draws bees steadily for two weeks.

The flowers give way to small, round, black fruits that birds clear quickly. In time the tree reaches fifteen metres or more with a single straight trunk and a broad, dignified crown, and the bark becomes rugged and fissured with age.

Science & Biotechnology

Sabiaceae is a small, ancient family of flowering plants that molecular systematics has placed near the base of the eudicot lineage, giving this garden tree a surprising evolutionary pedigree: it represents a lineage that diverged from most familiar flowering plants tens of millions of years ago. The species reached Western gardens through the great Chinese seed collections of the early twentieth century, carrying the name of the Veitch nursery whose collectors first sent it home. Botanical interest has focused on the family’s position, on the wood anatomy that sets Meliosma apart from its relatives, and on the flower biology of a genus whose nectar-bearing disc and unusual stamens are considered primitive in the technical sense of ancient, not inferior.

In cultivation it is a tree for the long view: slow to make a specimen, but long-lived and increasingly valued in arboreta for exactly that combination.

Uses & Benefits

Its garden value is architectural: a bold-leaved, fine-flowering tree for a large lawn, a woodland edge or an arboretum collection, handsome in leaf from spring to autumn and structurally interesting in winter. The summer flower panicles feed bees and other pollinators at a season when large trees are otherwise done, and the autumn fruits feed birds for the few days before they strip them.

It prefers deep, moist, well-drained soil and shelter from cold drying winds, and once established it is a quiet, long-lived presence that asks nothing beyond its root run. For gardens with room, it is one of the most rewarding of the lesser-known Chinese trees.

Growing from Seed

Sow seed in autumn into a deep, free-draining compost and leave the pots in a cold frame through winter, or cold-stratify for three months before a spring sowing; germination follows as the soil warms and can straggle, so keep the trays going a second season. Grow the young trees in partial shade with steady moisture for the first two years.

Pot on annually to keep the root run deep, then plant out in autumn into rich, moisture-retentive but free-draining ground in sun or light shade, spacing it for the eventual fifteen-metre crown. Water through the first two summers, stake for the first three, and after that let it grow; it is a tree that rewards decades more than seasons.

Our Take

A stately Chinese tree with bold leaves and long cream tassels in June, from a family older than most of the garden. For large gardens with patience, a distinguished choice.

Tree Seeds