Korean dendropanax
Dendropanax trifidus · Araliaceae · 황칠나무
How to spot it
Yellow sap (hwangchil) flows from the bark. Leaves are unlobed or 3 to 5 lobed and very glossy.
Look
- Leaves
- Ovate or elliptic, 10 to 20 cm long, either toothless or divided into 3 to 5 lobes. The tip is pointed, both sides are hairless, the whole leaf is very glossy, and the petiole is 3 to 10 cm long.
- Flowers
- In June, white flowers bloom in umbels at the twig tips. The flower stalk is 3 to 5 cm and the pedicels are 5 to 10 mm, with nectar glands on the disc.
- Fruit
- Oval drupes 7 to 10 mm long ripen black in October, with the style remaining.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Native
- Native to
- Native to forests of coasts and islands in southern Korea; in Jeju-do it ranges up to 700 m, and it grows on Wando, Geomundo, Daeheuksando and Eocheongdo.
- Ecology
- Likes deep, fertile sites of sandy loam or loam in partial shade or sun, growing mixed with camellia, Machilus and Eurya. Weak against cold, but strongly tolerant of shade and salt, and also highly tolerant of pollution and pests. Grows fast when young.