Triadica sebifera

Chinese tallow tree ( Triadica sebifera )

The Chinese tallow tree ( Triadica sebifera ) is a flowering plant in the spurge family of plants (Euphorbiaceae ). It is native to Asia and is found mainly in China, Taiwan and Japan. Meanwhile, this species is widespread in the United States, where it is regarded as an invasive plant.

• 5.1 Notes and references

Description

Vegetative characteristics

Triadica sebifera grows as a tree and reaches stature heights of up to 15 m. It is a white milky juice present. All plant parts are smooth. The bark is initially dark green with vertical stripes, light brown later.

The alternate arranged on the branches leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. At 2.5 to 6 cm long petiole there are one or two glands. The simple, mostly rhombic to broadly ovate or slightly heart-shaped leaf blade is membranous, 3-13 cm long and 3-9 cm wide with a broadly rounded base and a pointed end. It is Fiedernervatur with six to twelve lateral nerves before, with the bottom sheet pair of nerves forms the bottom of the page, and the midrib is something sublime. The leaf margin is smooth. The side sheets are 1 to 1.5 mm long.

Generative features

Triadica sebifera is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). Terminally be 3 to 35 cm long, simple, grapey grapes similar, more or less continuous (ie, kitten -like ) formed inflorescences. In the lower part of the inflorescence female male sitting at the top of flowers. All bracts have two large, almost kidney-shaped glands at their base. The small, yellow, unisexual flowers always missing petals and discus. In the axes of broad - ovate, 1.5 to 2 × 1.5 to 2 mm large bracts stand together long, slender stems, in small bundles 10 to 15 male flowers and three unequal bracts of 1-4 mm. The male flowers have cup-shaped deformed membranous sepals and the cup is only indistinctly three-lobed or toothed. A rudimentary gynoecium is missing. The two to three stamens protrude beyond the cup. The free stamens are almost the same length as the spherical dust bag. Only one female flower stands on a 2 to 5 mm long stem on a three-part bract. Female are larger than the male. Sometimes even a few male flowers are on the same carrier sheet. In the female flowers of the cup-shaped calyx is usually in three parts. Three carpels are fused into one oval to spherical, smooth, dreifächerigen ovary. Each ovary compartment contains only one ovule. The three free pen each terminating in a bent back scar. The flowering period lasts from April to August.

The fruit stands are up to 28 cm long. The spherical, pear-shaped, dreifächerigen capsule fruits are black when ripe, have a diameter of 11-13 mm and containing three seeds. The 8 × 6-7 mm, black seeds are covered with a white, waxy aril and have a hard exocarp and a fleshy endosperm. The fruits ripen from August to December.

The set of chromosomes is 2n = 44

Use

In Asia, the waxy coating of the seeds is used for making candles and soap. The leaves are used in medicine for the treatment of boils. The juice and the leaves of the plant are considered toxic. The epithets sebifera and waxy sebiferum mean and refer to the wax that coats the seeds.

The plant can be used for biodiesel production and is considered the third most productive oil -producing plant by algae and oil palms.

The wax of the seeds, in a chemical sense, a triglyceride is obtained by cooking the seed in hot water. The wax floating on the surface and thereby there is skimmed off. Although other parts of the plant are poisonous, the wax is non-toxic and can be used as vegetable oil for cooking.

From the leaves a darker dye can be obtained.

Plant nectar is also non-toxic. The plant is therefore popular with beekeepers as a honey plant. However, the honey obtained therefrom is considered to be low quality and is used as a bakery honey. The plant is also considered productive after the heyday of other plants is over.

The Chinese tallow tree is considered hardy ornamental, fast growing and shade -giving. In areas with high seasonal temperature differences he has in the autumn on a colorful foliage.

Distribution and habitat

The natural home of Triadica sebifera is on Taiwan and the southern parts of Japan and China ( Yunnan and Hainan to Gansu, Shandong and Henan). It grows in many forest types and on different soils from dry to moist conditions, and is even tolerant of short-term flooding. It reaches heights of up to about 1700 meters.

Triadica sebifera was introduced by Benjamin Franklin in the southern United States and has run wild. It grows well on abandoned farmland where it forms part, stands dominated. It is valid in much of the U.S. as an invasive plant.

System

This species was first published in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus sebifer as Croton or Croton sebiferum in Species Plantarum, 2, 1004. The now valid botanical name Triadica sebifera was published in 1913 by John Kunkel Small Trees in Florida, 59. This kind were often moved from one genus to another, and so there are a variety of synonyms. Other synonyms are: Excoecaria sebifera (L.) Müll.Arg, Sapium chihsinianum SKLee, S. discolor (Champion ex Bentham ) Müll.Arg. . var wenhsienense SBHo, p pleiocarpum YCTseng, p sebiferum (L.) Roxb. , p sebiferum cordatum var SYWang, p sebiferum var dabeshense BCDing & TBChao, p sebiferum var multiracemosum BC Ding & TBChao, p sebiferum var pendulum BCDing & TBChao, Triadica sinensis Lour ..

Swell

• Bingtao Li & Hans -Joachim Esser: Triadica in the Flora of China, Volume 11, p 284: Triadica sebifera - Online. (Section usage, description, systematics and distribution )