Picrasma quassioides
| Picrasma quassioides | |
| Light: |   |
| Moisture: |  |
| Hardiness: | 6 |
| Soil pH: | 5.6-8.4 |
| Height: | 33' |
| Width: | 23' |
| Blooms: | Late Spring |
| Open Woods Forest | |
| Native to: | |
| Edible Rating: |  |
| Medicinal Rating: |  |
| Tea: | Yes |
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Picrasma quassioides (common name: nigaki)
Propagation: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in a cold frame. Stored seed requires 3 months cold stratification[1] and should be sown as early in the year as possible. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Cuttings of half-ripe wood, July/August in a frame[2].
Root cuttings 4cm long in December. Plant them out horizontally in pots in a greenhouse[3].
Cultivation: Requires a fertile humus-rich moisture-retentive loam in a sunny position[2]. Plants also succeed when growing in semi-shade[4].
According to [2] this plant is only hardy to zone 10 (not tolerating frosts) but there are healthy trees in many parts of Britain including one 8.5 metres tall at Kew in 1981, one 8 metres tall seen growing in light woodland shade at Cambridge Botanical Gardens where it was bearing fruit in the autumn of 1996 and one 9 metres tall at Westonbirt in 1980[5][K].
Range: E. Asia - China, Japan, Korea.
Habitat: Lowland woods and hills[6]. Forests in the higher hills of the W. Himalayas, in ravines under forests of deodar, oak, fir etc, 1800 - 2400 metres[7].
Edibility: Fruit[8][9]. Small and red[10]. The fruit is a berry about 7mm in diameter[2].
Young buds (the report does not say if they are flower or leaf buds) are used to make a tea[9][11][10].
A bitter substance called quassin' is extracted from (the bark of?) the tree and can be used as a hop substitute in brewing beer[10].
Medicinal: The wood contains a number of medicinal compounds and has been shown to be anthelmintic, antiamoebal, antiviral, bitter, hypotensive and stomachic[12]. It increases the flow of gastric juices[12]. It is used in Korea in the treatment of digestive problems, especially chronic dyspepsia[12].
A decoction of the stem bark is bitter, febrifuge and tonic[13][14][7][15][16][17][18][19].
The leaves have been used to treat itchy skins[18][19]. (Probably acting by killing body parasites[K].
Usage: The bark is used as an insecticide[13][14]. Another report says that it is the wood that is used[18]. It is a substitute for the insecticide quassia, which is obtained from the wood of a tropical tree[18]. Quassia is a relatively safe organic insecticide that breaks down quickly and is of low toxicity to mammals. It has been used as a parasiticide to get rid of lice, fleas etc.
Wood - hard, fine and close grained. Used for mosaic, utensils etc[13][14][15].
Soil: Can grow in light, medium, and heavy soils.
Seed Ripens: Mid Fall
Flower Type: Hermaphrodite
Links
References
- ↑ Dirr, Michael and Charles Heuser. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press, 1987.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Huxley, Anthony. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. MacMillan Press, 1992.
- ↑ Sheat, Wilfrid. Propagation of Trees, Shrubs and Conifers. St Martin, 1948.
- ↑ Brickell, Christopher. The RHS Gardener's Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Dorling Kindersley Publishers, 1990.
- ↑ Bean, William. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Murray, 1981.
- ↑ Ohwi, Jisaburo. Flora of Japan. Smithsonian Institution, 1965.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Gamble, James. A Manual of Indian Timbers. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, 1972.
- ↑ Tanaka, Tyōzaburō. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing, 1976.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Kunkel, Günther. Plants for Human Consumption. Koeltz Scientific Books, 1984.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Facciola, Stephen. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications, 1990.
- ↑ Read, Bernard. Famine Foods Listed in the Chiu Huang Pen Ts'ao. Taipei Southern Materials Centre, 1977.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Medicinal Plants in the Republic of Korea. World Health Organisation, 1998.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Uphof, Johannes. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim, 1959.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Usher, George. A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. Constable, 1974.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Gupta, Basant. Forest Flora of Chakrata, Dehra Dun and Saharanpur. Forest Research Institute Press, 1945.
- ↑ Kariyone, Tatsuo. Atlas of Medicinal Plants.
- ↑ Duke, James and Edward Ayensu. Medicinal Plants of China. Reference Publications, 1985.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Chopra, R. Glossary of Indian Medicinal Plants. Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, 1986.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 Manandhar, Narayan. Plants and People of Nepal. Timber Press, 2002.