Beautiful plants in SZ
The scientific name for eaglewood, an evergreen tree, is aquilaria sinensis.
Its grows from 6m to 15m. The leaves are oblong*, 5cm to 10cm in length. Flowers bloom in late spring and early summer. They are yellow green in color with a fragrant* scent.
Fruits are oblong, 2-3cm long, looking like lanterns hanging in the tree. Fruits mature in July and August. There are one or two black seeds in each fruit.
The tree is mainly found in Guangdong, Hainan and Yunnan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The fragrant wood is yellow-white in color.
The rare medicinal herb lignaloes* is processed from the wood. When the trunk is damaged, fungus* will grow changing the substance in the cells into balsam*. Lignaloes is famous perfume in the world.
In the past, vast amounts of lignaloes were produced in Dongguan, Guangdong and exported to the rest of the world through Hong Kong. This is how Hong Kong got its name: Xianggang (in pinyin). In Chinese, it means fragrant harbour.
With the thick and shining leaves, eaglewood can be planted as ornamental tree in the courtyards. It reproduces by seeds. Seeds should be sown soon after collecting. In this way the germination rate* is higher than 80 percent, but it is lower than 30 percent if the seeds are stored for one month.