What is the chicken-claw pear? Latest detailed introduction
The scientific name of the chicken-claw pear is Hovenia dulcis (Japanese raisin tree), also known as guaijiao, guaizao, linqin, wanzi pear, wanshou fruit, etc. It is a woody deciduous tree of the genus Hovenia in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae. It grows on sunny slopes, in valleys, along ditch edges and roadsides, or is cultivated. It is mainly distributed in the provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan and others.
The chicken-claw pear reaches more than 10 m in height. Young twigs, the undersides of young leaves, petioles and inflorescence axes initially have short fine hairs, which later fall off. The leaf blades are elliptic-ovate, broadly ovate, or cordate-ovate. The dichasial cymes are terminal and axillary; the flowers are small, yellow-green, with oblate petals, and the style is often cleft to the middle or deeply cleft. The fruit stalk is fleshy, twisted, and reddish brown; the fruit is nearly spherical and hairless. The fruit's shape resembles the swastika character “swastika”, hence the name wanshou fruit. The flowering period is June, and the fruiting period is August to October.
The fruit of the chicken-claw pear has high utility value. Its enlarged infructescence stalk is fleshy, juicy and nutritious, and contains a variety of nutrients and components. In every 100 grams of fruit, the glucose content is as high as 45%, and the total amino acid content reaches 2.41%. Per 100 grams of fresh weight, it contains 23 mg of vitamin C, 345.8 mg of acid, 1.22 g of calcium, 0.31 mg of protein, 3.47 mg of iron, 0.8 mg of phosphorus, 0.12 mg of zinc, 0.74 mg of copper, and 0.2 mg of manganese. Its nutritional value is far greater than that of common fruits.
The fruit stalk of the chicken-claw pear contains a large amount of glucose and potassium malate. After frost it becomes sweet and can be eaten raw or used to make wine, commonly known as “guaizao”. The fruit is used as medicine; it is a cooling diuretic and can also relieve alcoholic intoxication. “Guaizao wine” can treat rheumatism. The wood is moderate in hardness and beautiful in grain, and is used as material for construction and for making furniture and art crafts. In traditional Chinese medicine, the seeds and wood are used as medicine and have the effects of clearing heat, promoting diuresis, and relieving alcohol toxicity. In ancient books there are many amusing records of its use to relieve alcohol toxicity.
The chicken-claw pear grows fast and has excellent timber. The tree can reach 20 to 25 m in height. Its wood is purplish red, moderate in hardness, beautiful in grain and easy to process. It is both a high-quality building material and interior decoration material, and also an excellent material for making fine furniture, art crafts, vehicles and boats, gun stocks, and so on. It is used for both fruit and timber, has strong adaptability, and is also an excellent new tree species for returning farmland to forest, development of the western region, resource development of barren hilly land, and modern greening.