It’s way more widespread for brand spanking new perennials to be found than new timber…it’s a measurement factor. Botanists have been excited in 1960, when Chinese language professor H.T. Chang printed a brand new small tree that he considered a witch hazel, named Hamamelis subaequalis. The unique Jiangsu Province assortment truly dated to 1935, nevertheless it took 25 years to be printed based mostly on a herbarium specimen of the fruit.
The brand new hazel hadn’t been seen alive since 1935, and was assumed extinct, when it was rediscovered in 1988 by a staff from the Jiangsu Institute of Botany. After learning reside flowering specimens for 3 years, it turned apparent that It wasn’t a witch hazel in any respect, and a brand new genus, Shaniodendron was printed for the plant. Right here, it remained, till 1997, when DNA evaluation revealed that Shaniodendron was truly a second species within the previously monotypic genus Parrotia….solely dwelling some 3,500 miles from its nearest relative. Its sibling is the famed Iranian Ironwood (Parrotia persica).
At present, there are solely 5 recognized populations in China, so it’s fairly uncommon within the wild. The biggest vegetation seen within the wild have been 30′ tall, however Parrotia subaequalis ought to develop barely taller in cultivation. The photograph under is our 13 yr outdated specimen. Most vegetation of Parrotia subaequalis within the US, together with our specimen pictured under, hint again to famed Japanese plant collector of Chinese language vegetation, Mikinori Ogisu. Fortuitously, Parrotia subaequalis is kind of simple to root from cuttings, so we hope its not lengthy earlier than this wonderful plant turns into far more widespread in commerce. In trials to this point, it got here by -25 levels F with solely slight tip injury, so it seems to be like a strong Zone 5-8 plant.
