Chinese Tallow Tree
Triadica sebifera · Euphorbiaceae · 오구나무
How to spot it
Identified by leaves with conspicuous yellow veins and white popcorn-like seeds that remain into winter.
Look
- Leaves
- Leaves are 2.5 to 7.5 cm long, narrowing at the base and long-pointed at the tip, with prominent yellow veins.
- Flowers
- Petalless yellow flowers grow on drooping catkin-like spikes about 20 cm long.
- Fruit
- Inside the three-chambered capsule (1.3 to 1.9 cm long) are three round seeds wrapped in white wax, looking like popcorn.
- Bark
- The trunk is twisted and cracked, and the bark sometimes peels in narrow vertical strips.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Native to China and Japan.
- Ecology
- The flowers attract insects such as bees, and the seeds attract birds.