Vernicia fordii
Wood oil tree ( Vernicia fordii )
The wood oil tree ( Vernicia fordii ), also known as Tung tree, tung oil tree, Kalonussbaum, is a plant which belongs to the family of Euphorbiaceae ( Euphorbiaceae ). It is native to southern China, Myanmar and North Vietnam. In tropical regions, mostly below an altitude of 800 meters it is cultivated worldwide. For example, in the southern USA it is considered as an invasive plant.
- 4.1 Notes and references
Description
Vegetative characteristics
The wood oil tree grows as a highly branched, small to medium sized deciduous tree, reached the stature heights of up to about 10 meters. The bark is nearly smooth and light gray. The bark of young branches is initially hairy rust-colored fluffy, but verkahlt soon and clearly has lenticels. With an injury runs from milk juice. The wood is soft and white. The lance-shaped bud scales are often somewhat sticky.
The alternate at the ends of branches concentrated arranged leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole has two glands and has a length of ( rarely 5 to ) 10 to 20 centimeters approximately the same length as the leaf blade. The simple leaf blade with a length of (rarely 5 to ) 10 to 20 inches and a width of (rarely 4 to ) 10 to 19 inches wide, ovate, more or less heart-shaped, rarely slightly three-lobed. The lance-shaped and 4 to 10 millimeters long, bare stipules fall off early and left its scars.
Generative features
Vernicia fordii is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). The branched inflorescences always appear before the foliage leaves and contain both female and male flowers. The unisexual flowers have a diameter of about 3 inches. The five purple bracts have dark red or dark purple stripes.
The hard, pear-shaped stone fruit has a length of 4 to 6 cm and a diameter of 3 to 5 centimeters. It contains four or five large seeds and green at first, then moving on to a brown color in the fall. The flattened wide with a size of 2 to 2.5 × 2 to 2.2 cm ovoid seed is oily, brownish, something warty and furrowed. The seed coat is lignified.
The flowering period extends from March to April. The fruits ripen from August to November.
Cultivation and use
The wood oil tree is valued for its wood oil, which is extracted from the seeds of the fruit and has been used in ancient China for burning lamps. Today it is used as a substance in paints, varnish and Verfugungsmitteln. Also known as wood care product for furniture and other wooden objects you can apply it, and after extraction of the gum resin, it is also suitable as motor oil. The wood is light but tough, and can serve as a replacement for the balsa wood.
The wood oil tree was introduced to Thailand, Argentina, Paraguay and the United States, primarily for the extraction of oil. However, due to environmental damage due to drought and hurricanes, the tree could not develop in the U.S. permanently.
The world production of the oil obtained from the wood oil tree grew between 1970 and 1980 from 100,000 tons to 200,000 tons.
System
This species was as Aleurites fordii 1906 by William Botting Hemsley in Hooker's Icones Plantarum, 29, table 2801, first described in 2802. Herbert Kenneth Airy Shaw presented in 1966 in Kew Bulletin 20 (3 ), pp. 394 to the genus Vernicia Lour .. The genus belongs to the subtribe Vernicia Aleuritinae from the tribe Aleuritideae in the subfamily Crotonoideae within the family of Euphorbiaceae.
Swell
- Bingtao Li & Michael G. Gilbert: Vernicia in the Flora of China, Volume 11, 2008, p 266: Vernicia fordii - Online. ( Description section )
- A. Radlcliffe -Smith: Vernicia fordii in the Flora of Pakistan: Online. ( Description section )