Aleurites cordata
| Aleurites cordata | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 10 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-7.3 |
| Evergreen | |
| Height: | 23' |
| Blooms: | Early Summer-Mid Summer |
| Native to: | |
| Tea: | Yes |
 | |
Aleurites cordata (common name: japan wood-oil tree)
Propagation: Seed - sow March/April in a warm greenhouse. When large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on for at least the first winter in a greenhouse. Plant out in early summer and give the plants some protection from the cold for their first winter outdoors.
Cuttings of mature wood in a frame[1].
Cultivation: Easily grown in a loamy soil but plants are unable to withstand much frost[2]. Requires a lime-free soil[1].
Plants are not hardy outdoors in Britain[1].
There is some confusion over the name of this species, it is included by some authorities as a synonym of A. fordii (q.v.), though this synonymy might refer to A. cordata. Muell-Arg[3]. A. cordata.(A.Juss.)Steud. is a synonym of A. montana. (Lour.)Wilson. a tree that is native to S.W. China[4].
This species (A cordata [Thunb.)Steud.) is cultivated for its oil in western Japan[5]. It is distinguished from A. montana by the glands at apex of petiole and the leaves with white or brown hairs at branching parts of veins of lower surface[5]. Aleurites montana (Lour.) Wilson, which is distributed in S. China to Indochina and cultivated in China and rarely in western Japan, differs from A. fordii in having ovoid verrucose fruits, that of A. fordii being smooth and spherical[5]. Aleurites fordii Hemsl. is cultivated in China and sometimes in Japan[5]. Aleurites moluccana (L.) Willd. is cultivated in Okinawa Islands (Naha, Kunigami) and different from all of them by the small flowers not over 1 cm long and the leaves without glands[5]
Range: E. Asia - China, Japan, but widely cultivated in eastern Asia.
Habitat: Rocky places to 1000 metres in W. China[3]. Montane sparse forests below 1550 metres[6].
Usage: A drying oil obtained from the seed is used for treating woodwork, for lighting, soap making, varnish etc[2][7][8].
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
In Leaf: Evergreen
Flower Type: Monoecious
Known Hazards: The oil from the seed is poisonous[9].
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wilson, Ernest and Charles Sargent. Plantae Wilsonianae.
- ↑ Hill, Albert. Economic Botany. The Maple Press, 1952.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Flora of Japan.
- ↑ Flora of China. 1994.
- ↑ Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ Frohne, Dietrich and Hans Pfänder. J. A Colour Atlas of Poisonous Plants. Timber Press, 1984.