Tetracentron sinense

Plant Characteristics

Habit		tree
Height:	⇕	50 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 50.
Width:	⇔	30 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 30.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun
USDA Zones:		6 to 9
Flower features:	❀	orange, yellow

Scientific Names

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Tetracentron is a genus of flowering plant, the sole living species being Tetracentron sinense. It was formerly considered the sole genus in the family Tetracentraceae, though modern botanists include it in the family Trochodendraceae together with the genus Trochodendron.

It is native to southern China and the eastern Himalaya, where it grows at altitudes of 1100–3500 m in a temperate climate; it has no widely used common name in English, though is sometimes called "spur-leaf".^{[citation needed]}

It is a tree growing to 20–40 m tall. The leaves are deciduous (the Flora of China reporting it as evergreen is an error), borne singly at the apex of short spur shoots, each leaf dark green, broad heart-shaped, 5–13 cm long and 4–10 cm broad, with a rugose surface and a serrated margin. The spur shoots bear a one leaf each year, slowly lengthening with each subsequent year.

The flowers are inconspicuous, yellowish green, without petals, produced on slender catkins 10–15 cm long; each flower is 1–2 mm diameter. The fruit is a follicle 2–5 mm diameter, containing 4-6 seeds.

Read about Tetracentron sinense in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Tetracentron (Greek, four and spur, referring to the 4 spur-like appendages of the fr.). Magnoliaceae. A deciduous tree from China, with alternate petioled ovate lvs. palmately 5-7-veined, serrate, exstipulate: fls. sessile, small, perfect, in slender pendulous racemes, apetalous; sepals 4, ovate, imbricate; stamens 4, inserted before the sepals, exserted; carpels 4, connate along the ventral suture; styles 4, recurved; ovules pendulous, several in each cell: fr. a 4-celled deeply lobed caps., loculicidally dehiscent; seeds linear-oblong. Next to Cercidiphyllum this is the tallest deciduous tree of China, attaining occasionally to 100 ft., and 20 ft. in girth. In its foliage it bears a strong resemblance to Cercidiphyllum, though not closely related, but it is easily distinguished by the alternate lvs., solitary, not in 2's on the spurs. It has proved hardy at the Arnold Arboretum, at least in sheltered positions, but does not seem to grow so well as Cercidiphyllum, with which it probably shares the same exigencies as to cult. and prop. T. sinense, Oliver. Tall tree with smooth pale or rufous gray bark: lvs. slender-petioled, ovate or elliptic-ovate, acuminate, cordate at the base, bluntly serrate, 3-5 in. long: racemes 2 1/2 - 4 in. long, short-stalked, slender; fls. yellowish, minute; the exserted stamens about 1 line long: caps. brown, 1/5 in. long. June, July. Cent. and W. China. H.I. 19:1892.—The tree needs to be further tested in this country. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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