Celtis caucasica
| Celtis caucasica | |
| Light: |  |
| Moisture: |   |
| Hardiness: | 6 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 66' |
| Blooms: | Mid Spring |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Celtis caucasica
Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame[1]. Stored seed is best given 2 - 3 months cold stratification and then sown February/March in a greenhouse[2][1]. Germination rates are usually good, though the stored seed might take 12 months or more to germinate. The seed can be stored for up to 5 years[3]. As soon as they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots. The leaves of seedlings often have a lot of white patches without chlorophyll, this is normal and older plants produce normal green leaves. Grow the seedlings on in a cold frame for their first winter, and plant them out in the following late spring or early summer[K]. Give them some protection from the cold for their first winter outdoors.
Cuttings
Cultivation: Succeeds in any reasonably good soil, preferring a good fertile well-drained loamy soil[4][5][1]. Succeeds on dry gravels and on sandy soils[1]. Established plants are very drought resistant[6][1].
Trees prefer hotter summers and more sunlight than are normally experienced in Britain, they often do not fully ripen their wood when growing in this country and they are then very subject to die-back in winter[4][5][1].
Trees can be very long-lived, perhaps to 1000 years[1].
This species is closely allied to C. australis but it is much hardier and is more likely to thrive in Britain than most other species in this genus[5][1]. A tree at Kew in September 1989 was 12 metres tall though it was not bearing fruit[K].
Coppices well[7].
Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus[1].
Range: E. Europe to Asia - Bulgaria to the Himalayas.
Habitat: Dry stony bluffs, rocks, ravines etc and occasionally as undergrowth in clearings[6].
Edibility: Fruit - raw[8][9]. A mealy pleasant taste[6]. The fruit is about 4 - 5mm in diameter, it has a thin, dry, sweet flesh with a pleasant flavour but a slight astringency[K]. The trees often produce large crops of fruit in Britain, but there is so little that is edible on each fruit that it is scarcely worthwhile[K].
Usage: Wood - very tough, elastic, durable, of high quality[6][7]. An excellent fuel[7].
Pollinators: Bees
Soil: Can grow in light and medium soils.
Drainage: Prefers well drained soil.
Seed Ripens: Mid Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Sheat, Wilfrid. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. St Martin, 1948.
- ↑ Dirr, Michael and Charles Heuser. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press, 1987.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chittendon, Fred. RHS Dictionary of Plants. Oxford University Press, 1951.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Bean, William. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Murray, 1981.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Komarov, Vladimir. Flora of the USSR. Gantner Verlag, 1968.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Gamble, James. A Manual of Indian Timbers. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, 1972.
- ↑ Simmons, Alan. Growing Unusual Fruit. David and Charles, 1972.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.