What does the Chinese scholar tree look like? A full breakdown of its morphological features

The Chinese scholar tree is also known as huai, shougong huai, huai flower tree, huai blossom tree, bean huai, golden medicine tree, purple-flowered huai, fragrant-flowered huai and so on. It is a deciduous tree, so what does it look like? How do you grow it?

1. What does the Chinese scholar tree look like?

The Chinese scholar tree reaches 15 m tall, and its bark is grayish-brown with vertical fissures. It has bipinnate to tripinnate compound leaves, with a leaf rachis about 30 cm long and hairless. The corolla is bell-shaped and funnelform, white or pale yellow. The capsule is leathery, cylindrical and elongated like a garden bean, slightly curved with many grooves.

2. How do you grow the Chinese scholar tree?

1. Soil

To grow the Chinese scholar tree, it is recommended to use loose, fertile, well-drained loam and sandy loam rich in organic matter.

2. Light

In spring, give the Chinese scholar tree appropriate light, with 3-4 hours of sunlight per day, to keep the leaves brightly colored. In summer and autumn, provide appropriate shade and spray water once a day to clean dust from the leaf surface, so that growth is more vigorous and the leaves are greener.

3. Watering

During the growing season, the Chinese scholar tree should always be kept in moist soil; do not let the soil in the pot dry out, especially in summer, and always spray water on the leaves. Too dry conditions will make the leaves dry out, but in winter the soil should not be too wet; still, always spray water on the leaves.

4. Temperature

The Chinese scholar tree is cold-tolerant and heat-tolerant, and can withstand 33 degrees of low temperature without freeze damage; it is heat-tolerant and grows faster in the south.

5. Fertilizing

The Chinese scholar tree does not have very high fertilizer requirements, but applying a compound fertilizer of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium every 20-25 days will make it more vigorous.