Phellodendron chinense seed

LATIN NAME: Phellodendron chinense

COMMON NAME: Chinese Cork Tree

The Chinese cork tree is a handsome, upright, open, deciduous tree of the warm forests, and its fine, pinnate leaves of the many oval leaflets and its small, inconspicuous, greenish flowers, followed by the small, round, black, aromatic fruits, have made it a treasured and fine tree of the region. It grows as an upright, open, deciduous tree, reaching up to twenty metres or more, with the upright, branching trunk with the fine, corky bark bearing the opposite, pinnate leaves of the many oval, pointed leaflets and, through the late spring, the small, inconspicuous, greenish flowers, followed by the small, round, black, aromatic, few-seeded fruits. It is a species of the flowering tree in the rue family, and it is native to the warm forests of the central and the western China, while it is prized for its long history of traditional use and its fine, corky bark, and it is known as the Chinese cork tree.

In the rue family it is the corky-barked, pinnate-leaved tree of the warm forests, a species whose bark has been part of the old practice of the east for the ages.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Chinese cork tree bark is a familiar subject in the traditional plant chemistry of the eastern Asia, and the constituents have been examined with the greatest care by the researchers across the world. The botanists have mapped its place in the rue family and the warm forest flora, and the foresters have studied the corky bark and the tough, useful growth of the region. The plant is best appreciated as a subject of study rather than a casual remedy, and the growers of the warm-region trees keep the species in their catalogues for the corky bark and the pinnate leaves.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the warm garden, the Chinese cork tree is the corky-barked tree of the open spot. Its small flowers feed the insects, its black, aromatic fruits feed the birds, and the open, leafy crown gives the garden a fine, light shade. The corky bark has served the traditional ways of the region, and the tree grows well in the moist, well-drained ground of the sunny spot. Corky-barked, aromatic and long-valued.

Give the seeds a cold, damp rest in a bag of moist sand in the fridge, then sow them shallowly in pots of loamy, free-draining soil, keep them moist and set the pots in a bright, sheltered spot, and the first leaves will show in time.