What are the characteristics of the growth habits of the four-season osmanthus?
Morphological characteristics of the four-season osmanthus
The flowers of the four-season osmanthus are slightly white or pale yellow, with a relatively faint fragrance and thin leaves. It is a variety of osmanthus in the genus Osmanthus. The biggest difference between the four-season osmanthus and other varieties is that it blooms throughout the year, so many people also call it month-by-month osmanthus, but its fragrance is also the faintest among all osmanthus, with the floral scent almost imperceptible.
Four-season osmanthus varieties are divided into month-by-month osmanthus, four-season osmanthus, Fodingzhu, Rixianggui and Tianxiang Taige.
Growth habits of the four-season osmanthus
The four-season osmanthus originated in the Mediterranean region, and has been introduced and cultivated in Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Taiwan, China, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China.
The four-season osmanthus prefers a warm and humid climate and has a certain cold resistance, but it is not tolerant of severe cold. It likes light and also tolerates shade, and seedlings need a certain degree of shading. It has low requirements for soil and prefers slightly acidic soil on high, dry terrain rich in humus, with deep, fertile, moist and well-drained sandy soil being most suitable. It is not tolerant of arid and barren soil, and avoids saline-alkaline soil and waterlogged land. When planted in excessively wet land with poor drainage, it will cause poor growth, root rot and leaf drop, ultimately leading to the death of the entire plant.
What value does the four-season osmanthus have
Osmanthus is one of China's ten traditional famous flowers. Because the common ones can only bloom once in autumn, the newly emerging "four-season osmanthus" has become a rising star in the osmanthus family. It breaks the convention that ordinary osmanthus varieties bloom only once a year, and can bloom 4 times each year, with each seasonal flowering period usually lasting more than 20 days. The flowers it produces are dense, yellow-white in color, evenly distributed along the branches, and the fragrance is also relatively long-lasting, giving people a pleasant feeling. It can be used as a spice for brewing tea and making cakes and pastries.
The four-season osmanthus is often planted in gardens, along roadsides, on lawns and in courtyards, and is an excellent landscaping tree species. Because it has a certain resistance to harmful gases such as sulfur dioxide and hydrogen fluoride, it is also an excellent flowering plant for greening industrial and mining areas. It is also a great material for potted cultivation; after being made into a bonsai, it can be enjoyed for its shape, stone flowers and fragrance, truly achieving "three benefits in one". In addition, osmanthus wood is hard, glossy and beautifully grained, making it a fine material for carving.