Schima wallichii

What to Eat

Edible parts: Shoots, Leaves

Young shoots and leaves are eaten raw or cooked, often boiled and served with rice or mixed with other vegetables. Shoots are sold in markets.

Known Hazards

Where to Find It

A tropical and subtropical plant. It needs a humus-rich, acid soil. In India it is usually in the foothills and grows up to about 1,500 m altitude. Hobart Botanical Gardens? It suits hardiness zones 9-11. In Yunnan.

Asia, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Himalayas, India, Indochina, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Northeastern India, SE Asia, Sikkim, Tasmania, Thailand, Tibet, Vietnam,

How to Identify

An evergreen tree. It grows 8 m high and spreads 6 m wide. It can be 20-30 m tall. The crown is dense and bushy. The bark is dark grey with cracks along it. The leaves are glossy. They are large, leathery and green. They are oblong or sword shaped and 9-24 cm long by 3.5-8 cm wide. They are bronze-red when young. They are arranged in spirals. The flowers are white. They have prominent yellow stamens. The flowers have a scent. They occur in the axils of leaves and are 3-5 cm across. The fruit are round and 1.3-1.8 cm across. They are warty. There are 2-6 seeds in each cell. They are surrounded by a paper wing.

How to Grow

Plants can be grown from seed or half hardened cuttings.

Propagation: Seed - germinates freely when sown as soon as it is ripe. Pre-soak stored seed for 12 hours in warm water (about body temperature) before sowing. Germination rates vary considerably - fresh seeds give about 90% germination in 10 - 12 days, but in some seedlots there has been a germination rate of only 15% in 23 - 85 days. Seeds are sown under shade and only lightly covered with soil. Seedling mortality in the nursery is usually about 50%. After 2 - 3 months seedlings are 5 - 8cm tall and can be transplanted from the seedbed to containers; at 6 - 8 months, when they are about 20cm tall, they can be planted out in the field, although stumps may be made of older seedlings. Seed storage behaviour is recalcitrant; seeds cannot be stored and are short-lived in open storage at room temperature. Dried fruits or seeds can be stored for up to 3 months, although 1 record in Nepal shows that they can be stored for a long time without problems. There are 196 000-267 000 dry seeds/kg.

Medicinal Uses

The astringent corollas are used to treat uterine disorders and hysteria. The crude drug is called ‘buah cangkok’ in Indonesia, and ‘changkoh’ in peninsular Malaysia. The bark is used as an antiseptic for wounds. The sap from the stem is used in the treatment of ear infections.

Other Uses

The bark is a source of tannins and is used for dyeing. The leaves also contain tannin but not in quantities large enough for economic. The seed contains 19% oil. The heartwood is pink-brown, red-brown or grey-brown, but is sometimes dark red-brown; it is not clearly differentiated from the pale grey sapwood. The grain is straight or interlocked, frequently irregular; texture moderately fine or fine and even.The wood is medium-weight to heavy, hard, fairly strong, moderately durable and relatively resistant to dry-wood termites. It is easy to work with hand and machine tools and polishes satisfactorily. It is used for medium-heavy construction that is under cover, such as columns and beams, for flooring, interior fitting, panelling, door and window frames, joinery, utility furniture, ship and boat building (ribs, decks), vehicle bodies, agricultural implements, pallets, boxes and crates, poles, toys, turnery and, when treated, for railway sleepers. It has been used for bridge building in mountain areas, and young trees have been used as rafters. Good-quality plywood can be manufactured from the wood, and it is suitable for the production of wood-wool boards. The wood is suitable for paper pulp. The wood is a good firewood. The energy value of the sapwood is about 19 980 kJ/kg. The tree has been used as a shade tree in coffee plantations, and as a cover crop in plantations of Pinus merkusii and Agathis dammara. In the northeastern regions of India, planting cardamom with this tree are some of the ideal agroforestry systems for conserving soil and water. A useful tree for reforestation and planting for water conservation in catchment areas. The tree is planted as a pioneer species in northern Thailand in reforestation projects to restore native woodland - it is planted in degraded woodland and open areas in a mix with various other species that all have the ability to grow fast; produce dense, weed-suppressing crowns; and attract seed-dispersing wildlife, particularly birds and bats.

Schima wallichii, commonly known as the needlewood or Chinese guger tree, is a species of evergreen tree in the tea family, Theaceae. Schima wallichii is native to a wide area of China and tropical Asia. It grows 10–20 metres (33–66 ft) tall.

Other Information

Shoots are sold in markets.

Notes

There is only one Schima species.

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