Plants of China

By Chuck Martin, Dow Gardens Horticulturist

I have been enjoying watching the Olympics the last two weeks.  My daughter, who will tolerate sports has even shown an interest in this once per four year event.  Yesterday as she and I were watching the women’s marathon, she did mention to me that watching a marathon is one of the most monotonous events at the Olympics.  To this I had to disagree.

Many of you might think that the reason I wasn’t bored was because of the clothing or lack of clothing the women had on.  This is not true.  Many of you might think I was inspired by the historical sites along the way.  It is true that they did pass by the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and many other sites of Beijing.  I was most excited; as I am sure the majority of American’s were, to see the plant material along the route.  As many of you know many of our plants originated in China. I am sure you were as excited as I was to see these familiar plants grown in their home land.

 China is rich in plant life.  There are nearly 31,000 plant species that are native of China.  This diversity represents one eighth of the total plant species in the world.  The combined total number of plant species of the United States and Canada is 20,000.

 Many plant explorations from the United States take place in China.  This is in part because China is similar in land area and latitude as the continental US.  Many of the land species that were wiped out by the glaciers survived in China. There are plants that are found as fossils still living in China. 

 I would like to mention my top five favorite Chinese trees that are used as ornamentals.  Seeing these trees during the 2 and one half hour marathon was what kept many of us glued to the TV.

 The first tree I would like to mention is a small tree of 20 to 30 feet in height.  It is grown maninly for its bark characteristics, much like our paper birch.  The paperbark maple, (Acer griseum), has rich cinnamon colored bark that exfoliates its paper thin bark.  When the older bark exfoliates it reveals an exquisite red-brown new bark.  The fall color of the foliage is an excellent dark red.  The paperbark maple has trifoliate leaves.  This means it is a compound leaf with 3 leaflets.  Paperbark maples prefer full sun but will tolerate partial shade.

Katsuratree, (Cercidiphyllum japonica), is a beautiful pyramidal tree that reaches a height of 40-60 feet.  The foliage emerges as an attractive reddish purple color in the spring, turns to a gorgeous bluish green and ends up clean clear yellow in the fall.  This plant is dioecious and so you have to have both a male and female plant to produce fruit.  I’ll let your parents explain the male/female thing.

 We all love our native flowering dogwood.  Unfortunately, we can’t grow it in our area.  It is also plagued with a number of diseases and insect problems.  The Chinese or Kousa dogwood (Cornus kousa) is a much better plant as a landscape plant. Kousa dogwood gives us the same great flowering characteristics as our American flowering dogwood, only about a month later.  It has incredible fall color with a nice fruit display.  It will tolerate shade or full sun.  It is totally hardy in our area with little insect or disease problems.

 I have to admit that the Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is a favorite tree of mine because of its novelty. This tree was at one time thought to be extinct.  It was described by fossils found in Japan in 1941.  In the same year it was found growing along the rice paddies in China.  Look up the story behind this fascinating tree.  You won’t be able to sleep for days after this read.  It is much better than reading my articles.

 The Dawn Redwood is a conifer that loses its needles in the fall.  This is similar to the conifer tamarack. The pyramidally shaped tree is very fast growing and enjoys a moist soil.

 The last tree that I would like to mention is a favorite of many.  It is the well known ginkgo, (Ginkgo biloba).   A few years ago I wrote an article on the gingko tree and couldn’t believe the positive response I received. Ginkgo is loved by many of you.  A great plants-man named W.J. Bean states about the gingko, “undoubtedly one of the most distinct and beautiful of all deciduous trees.”  As many of you know it is touted as an herb that will help your memory.  If you want to forget this article, I wouldn’t ingest any ginkgo leaves.

 Our home landscapes have reaped the benefit of many fine plants of China.  I have just mentioned trees in this article.  Many of our shrubs, perennials, roses, herbs, annuals, and houseplants have their origins in China.  These plants are not only seen in China’s landscapes but in each one of our landscapes as well.  Next time you watch a Chinese marathon play the name game. See how many of the plants along the route you can name.