Chinese sebum tree
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Chinese sebum tree ( Triadica sebifera ) |
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The Chinese sebum tree ( Triadica sebifera ) is a species of plant in the milkweed family (Euphorbiaceae). It is native to Asia and is found mainly in the People's Republic of China , Taiwan and Japan . This species is now common in the United States, where it is considered an invasive plant .
description
Vegetative characteristics
Triadica sebifera grows as a deciduous tree and reaches heights of up to 15 m. There is a white milky juice present. All parts of the plant are hairless. The bark is initially dark green with vertical stripes, later light brown.
The alternate leaves arranged on the branches are divided into a petiole and a leaf blade. There are one or two glands on the 2.5 to 6 cm long petiole. The simple , usually rhombic to broadly ovate or somewhat heart-shaped leaf blade is membranous, 3 to 13 cm long and 3 to 9 cm wide with a broadly rounded base and a pointed end. There is pinnate veins with six to twelve lateral nerves, with the lowest pair of leaf veins forming the lower leaf margin, and the midrib being slightly raised. The leaf margin is smooth. The stipules are 1 to 1.5 mm long. The autumn color is orange-reddish.
Generative characteristics
Triadica sebifera is single sexed ( monoecious ). At the end, 3 to 35 cm long, simple, grape-like grape - like , more or less pendulous (kitten-like) inflorescences are formed. In the lower area of the inflorescence there are female flowers in the upper area. All bracts have two large, almost kidney-shaped glands at their base. The small, yellow, unisexual flowers always lack petals and discus . In the axes of broad-egg-shaped, 1.5 to 2 × 1.5 to 2 mm large bracts stand together on 1 to 4 mm long, slender stems, in small bunches 10 to 15 male flowers and three unequal bracts. The male flowers have cup-shaped, fused, membranous sepals and the calyx is only indistinctly three-lobed or toothed. A rudimentary gynoecum is missing. The two to three stamens rise above the calyx. The free stamens are almost as long as the spherical anthers. Only one female flower stands on a 2 to 5 mm long stem above a three-part bract. The female flowers are larger than the male. Sometimes a few male flowers stand on the same bract. In the female flowers, the cup-shaped calyx is usually in three parts. Three carpels are oval to a spherical, smooth, dreifächerigen ovary grown. Each ovary compartment contains only one ovule . The three free styluses each end in a bent back scar . The flowering period extends from April to August.
The fruit clusters are up to 28 cm long. The spherical, pear-shaped, triple, initially green capsule fruits turn black when ripe, they have a diameter of 11 to 13 mm and contain three seeds. The 8 × 6 to 7 mm large, dark brown seeds are covered by a whitish, waxy aril and have a hard exocarp and a fleshy endosperm . The fruits ripen between August and December.
The chromosome set is 2n = 44.
use
In Asia, the waxy coating of the seeds ( Stillingia oil, Stillingia oil or vegetable, Chinese tallow) is used to make candles and soap . The leaves are used in medicine to treat boils . The sap and leaves of the plant are considered poisonous. The epithets sebifera and sebiferum mean waxy and refer to the wax that coats the seeds.
The plant can be used to produce biodiesel and is considered the third most profitable oil-producing plant after algae and oil palms .
The wax of the seeds, in the chemical sense a triglyceride , is obtained by boiling the seeds in hot water. The wax floats on the surface and is skimmed off there. Although other parts of the plant are poisonous, the wax is non-toxic and can be used as a vegetable oil for cooking.
A dark dye can be obtained from the leaves.
The plant nectar is also non-toxic. The plant is therefore popular with beekeepers as a honey plant . However, the honey obtained from it is considered to be of low quality and is used as bakery honey . The plant is also considered productive after the flowering period of other plants is over.
The frost-hardy Chinese sebum tree is considered decorative, fast-growing and provides shade. In areas with high seasonal temperature differences, it has colorful foliage in autumn.
distribution and habitat
The natural home of Triadica sebifera is in Taiwan and the southern parts of Japan and China (from Yunnan and Hainan to Gansu, Shandong and Henan). It thrives in many forest types and on different soils from dry to wet conditions and even tolerates brief flooding. It reaches altitudes of up to about 1700 meters.
Triadica sebifera was introduced to the southern United States by Benjamin Franklin and has become feral. It grows well on abandoned farmland where it partially forms dominant populations. It is considered an invasive plant in much of the United States .
Systematics
This species was first published in 1753 by Carl von Linné as Croton sebifer or Croton sebiferum in Species Plantarum , 2, 1004. The botanical name Triadica sebifera , which is valid today , was published in 1913 by John Kunkel Small in Florida Trees , 59. These species have often been moved from one genus to the other and so there are a variety of synonyms. Further synonyms are: Excoecaria sebifera (L.) Müll.Arg. , Sapium chihsinianum S.K.Lee , Sapium pleiocarpum Y.C.Tseng , Sapium sebiferum (L.) Roxb. , Sapium sebiferum var. Cordatum S.Y.Wang , Sapium sebiferum var. Dabeshense B.C.Ding & TBChao , Sapium sebiferum var. Multiracemosum B.C.Ding & TBChao , Sapium sebiferum var. Pendulum B.C.Ding & TBChao , Triadica sinensis Lour. , Stillingia sebifera (L.) Michx. , Stillingia sinensis (Lour.) Baill.
literature
- Bingtao Li & Hans-Joachim Esser: Triadica in der Flora of China , Volume 11, p. 284: Triadica sebifera - online. (Section use, description, systematics and dissemination).
Web links
- University of Florida: Chinese sebum tree .
- Triadica sebifera from Useful Tropical Plants, accessed November 25, 2017.
Individual evidence
- ↑ PLANTS Profile for Triadica sebifera (Chinese tallow) . plants.usda.gov. Retrieved October 28, 2009.