Salacia chinensis seed
LATIN NAME: SALACIA CHINENSIS
COMMON NAME: Chinese Salacia
The Chinese salacia clasps the climbing shrub of the warm woodlands with the oblong, glossy, dark-green leaves set along the slender, twining stems and the small, greenish flowers that open in the small clusters through the warm season, the round, orange-yellow fruits following and ripening to the translucent, jelly-filled berries. The plant climbs by the clasping stems into the supporting trees, and it likes the sun or the part shade, and the moist, well-drained soil.
Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology
The medicinal root and fruit chemistry of the Chinese salacia gives it a recognised place in the research on the warm-climate medicinal climbers, and the chinensis species appears in the studies of the bioactive compounds and the light-woodland climbing habit. The work looks at the jelly-filled fruits, the traditional preparations, and the seed biology. The pharmacognosists value the remedies, and the growers of the warm-climate medicinal climbers keep the species in their catalogues.
Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications
In the warm, sheltered garden, the Chinese salacia clasps the pergola and the tree trunk. The glossy leaves and the orange fruits give the interesting cover, the plant has served the traditional remedies for the ages, and the fruits feed the birds. It grows well in the moist, well-drained, sunny or lightly shaded ground. Twining, glossy and traditional.
To grow the Chinese Salacia from seed, press the fresh seeds into the damp, leafy mix of the warm pot as they ripen, then cover them lightly, keep the pot warm and steadily moist, and the seedlings thread up within a few weeks.
Keep the pot warm and steadily moist, and pot the seedlings on as they grow. The clasping vines come within the season or two. Plant the young vines in the moist, sheltered ground, and the clasping stems will twine over the season.
Scandent shrub, 2-6 m high. Leaves simple, opposite, elliptic, ovate to obovate, 4-12 cm long by 2-7 cm wide; margin coarsely serrate. Inflorescence fascicle, axillary. Flowers yellowish-green, ca 8 mm wide; calyx minute, united at base; corolla 5, ovate; stamens 3; ovary small, triangular shaped. Fruit globose to ellipsoid, red or orange-red, 1-2 cm. Seed 1
Usually about 3-6 cataphylls produced before the first true leaves. Stipules small and inconspicuous, about 0.5 mm long, deciduous. The second, third and fourth leaves produced usually have toothed margins but subsequent leaves have entire margins. Roots orange coloured. At the tenth leaf stage: leaf blade narrowly obovate-elliptic, apex acuminate and bluntly pointed, base attenuate. Margin with about 20 evenly distributed teeth. Midrib raised on the upper surface. Stems with pairs of ribs running from one leaf node to the one below. Stipules about 0.7 mm long, margins laciniate. Some roots orange-coloured.