Xanthoceras seed

LATIN NAME: XANTHOCERAS SORBIFOLIUM

COMMON NAME: Yellowhorn

The yellowhorn scoops the open, rounded crown with the pinnate, ash-like leaves and the striking, star-shaped, white flowers with the yellow-and-red centres that open in the late spring, the green, walnut-like capsules following in the summer. The flowers stand out against the fresh green foliage, and the capsules ripen to the brown and split to release the dark, edible seeds. The tree grows into the neat, hardy small tree, and it stands the cold and the dry ground well. It likes the sun, and the light, well-drained soil.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

In the soapberry family, the yellowhorn has a growing place in the oilseed research, and the species appears in the studies of the seed oils and the hardy dry-land trees. The research covers the oil chemistry and the way the tree stands the cold and the drought, along with the seed biology, while the oil chemists value the table-grade oil. The agronomists track the yields in the dry lands, and the growers of the hardy oilseed trees keep the species in their catalogues.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

In the cold, dry garden, the yellowhorn yields the nuts in the tough places. The star-shaped, white flowers open in the late spring, the seeds have been eaten fresh and roasted and pressed into the fine table oil, and the ash-like foliage keeps the tree fresh through the summer. It grows well in the light, well-drained, sunny ground. Hardy, generous and quietly valuable.

The yellowhorn seeds need the cold treatment of a few weeks in the damp, cool place before the sowing, which wakes the hard seeds. Place them in the damp, gritty layers of the cold frame, and the seedlings rise in the spring. Plant them out into the light, well-drained, sunny ground once they are big enough, and give them the full sun. The star-shaped flowers come within the few years, and the edible seeds follow.

To grow the yellowhorn from seed, place the seeds in the damp, gritty layers of the cold frame, then keep the frame cool through the winter. The seedlings break ground in the spring, and they grow on steadily. Plant the young trees in the sunny, light ground, and the star-shaped flowers will scoop the spring over the years.

Yellowhorn is an ornamental deciduous, flowering tree or multi-stemmed shrub that grows up to 20 to 25 feet tall. A native of China, it is prized for its wonderful flowers, and elegant bright green foliage. It unites foliage recalling mountain ash (Sorbus), flowers like a horse chestnut tree and nuts like a macadamia. It is attractive, admirably cold hardy, drought tolerant, and generally tough. Remarkably, its leaves, flowers, and seeds are all edible. But it remains undeservedly rare and little known.

Yellowhorn features lustrous, rather finely pinnate dark green and glossy leaves 5 to 12 inches long, with 9 to 17 sharply toothed leaflets turning yellow in the fall. It has an upright habit, though the branches are spreading. The flowers are the chief glory of this tree. They are produced on the previous year's wood as the leaves unfold. The flowers are 5 petaled, 1 inch diameter, star-shaped and are mildly fragrant. Borne in racemes (clusters) 6 to 10 inch tall and begin life nearly white with a yellow eye that age to a deep pink after pollination. The entire plant almost disappears under the heavy bloom in May. The autumn fruit is an oval-shaped husk or capsule up to 2.5 inches, resembling a fig or buckeye husk, containing a dozen or so, edible, black, half-inch seeds. It splits into three sections when ripe. It is prudent to pick them before they fully open, thus preventing the nuts from falling out when harvesting. It is said that they taste like macadamia nuts.