Wild dampalsu tree
Elaeocarpus sylvestris var. ellipticus · Elaeocarpaceae · 담팔수
How to spot it
An evergreen whose leaves turn red so that red leaves are mixed in all year, with finely cut milky-white petals.
Look
- Leaves
- Thick, oblanceolate leaves 5-12 (15) cm long, glossy above and gray-green beneath, with wavy teeth. Old leaves turn red in fall.
- Flowers
- Five petals, cut finely to the middle and curled back, 4-5 mm long.
- Fruit
- The drupe is elliptic, 20-25 mm long, dark blue-green, maturing in mid-November; the seed is large with a wrinkled surface.
- Bark
- Bark is gray-brown and smooth, and the inner bark contains tannin.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Native
- Native to
- Found in Vietnam, Thailand, southern China, Taiwan and Japan; in Korea it is native to the south coast, Ulleungdo and Jeju-do.
- Ecology
- Grows on the coast and in warm spots sheltered from north winds, on deep fertile soil. It is weak in cold and cannot overwinter inland, but is strong against pollution and pests.
Famous Wild dampalsu tree trees in Korea
- Dampalsu Habitat of Cheonjiyeon, JejuNatural Monument No. 163 · Seohong-dong, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
- Warm-temperate Forest of Cheonjeyeon, JejuNatural Monument No. 378 · Jungmun-dong, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
- Wild Dampalsu Tree of Gangjeong-dong, SeogwipoNatural Monument No. 544 · Gangjeong-dong, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do
- Wild Dampalsu Tree of CheonjeyeonProvincial Monument · Saekdal-dong, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do