This tree, which is just as useful as beautiful, is native to China and also to other parts of Asia! The spring sprouting red leaves of the Chinese mahogany are not only an attractive spectacle but also serve as fine food while its logs are used for producing high quality furniture.
Despite the fact that the first specimens were planted in Britain in 1862, it has still remained so unknown to these days that it has not even been given a name. By the 1990s, the relationship with the tropical mahogany was recognized at last (as that both species belong to the Meliaceae family), so became known as Chinese mahogany.
The wood of Chinese mahogany is not by chance valued similarly great as the West Indian mahogany. It is very durable and resistant, however its wood, which is easy to work with, is excellent for making furniture. It is also used in temples as incense because of its pleasant smell.
As its name shows, it is native in China but can be found in Nepal, India, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, and Myanmar (Burma) too. In Britain, it is now widely planted as its particularly spectacular spring foliage represents high ornamental value.
The young leaves, especially the first spring leaves, are beautiful bronze-red in colour and change to green later. The young leaves are eaten as vegetable in China, the taste is similar to that of onion. The young bronze leaves are considered more tasty than the green ones, although the latter ones are also loved to be used to salads and frying, the Chinese name of the latter one is xiang chun ya or Chinese toon.
The fully-grown, consisting of 10-24 small bright dark-green leaf-pairs can even be 30-60 cm long and their colour changes to beautiful golden yellow before the leaves start to fall. The Chinese Mahogany has a wonderful, rare version called `Flamingo`, its leaves are beautiful bright pink in colour when they are shooting.
This fast-growing, deciduous tree likes sunshine and is not soil-picky; it can be as tall as 65.6 foot (20 m) when fully grown. In addition to the showy foliage, Chinese Mahogany also brings sweet-scented, cream-coloured, hanging inflorescences that are pollinated by insects. Bolls full of winged seeds will develop from them, which, together with the bark and root, are used for medical purposes in the traditional Chinese medicine.
It can be planted everywhere in our country and fully winter-hardy! USDA Zone 5
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Drought tolerant |  |
Shadow |
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Average water demand |  |
Half-shade |
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High water demand |  |
Sunny |
ZONE: The USDA Hardiness Zone of the plant. See the chart of USDA Hardiness Zones HERE!
SIZE: The size of the plant in centimeter.
QUALITY: For example: K1: we grow the plant in 1 liter container, CSP8x8: we grow the plant in 8x8 cm pot, SZGY: we ship the plant with bare root (carefully packed), FL: we ship the plant with root ball.
