What is the chicken-claw pear? Get to know this strange fruit
The scientific name of the chicken-claw pear is Hovenia dulcis, also known as guaijiao, guizao, linqin, wanzi pear, wanshou fruit, and so on. It belongs to the Rhamnaceae family, genus Hovenia, a woody deciduous tree. It grows on sunny slopes, in valleys, along ditches and roadsides, or is cultivated. It is mainly distributed in Shaanxi, Gansu, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, Hubei, Hunan, Guangxi, Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Yunnan and other provinces.
The chicken-claw pear can reach over 10 m tall. The young twigs, the underside of young leaves, petioles and inflorescence axes initially have short soft hairs, which later fall off. The leaves 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 often splits to the middle or deeply. The fruit stalk is fleshy, twisted, reddish-brown, and the fruit is nearly spherical, hairless. The fruit's shape resembles the swastika character "", hence the name wanshou fruit. The flowering period is June, and the fruiting period is August to October.
The chicken-claw pear fruit has high utilization value. Its enlarged infructescence stalk is fleshy, juicy and nutritious, containing a variety of nutrients and components. Per 100 grams of fruit, the glucose content is as high as 45%, the total amino acid content reaches 2.41%, and 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 far exceeds that of common fruits.
The chicken-claw pear fruit stalk contains a large amount of glucose and potassium malate. After frost it becomes sweet, and it can be eaten raw or used to make wine. It is commonly known as "guizao". The fruit is used as medicine; it is a cooling diuretic and can also relieve intoxication. "Guizao wine" can treat rheumatism. The wood is moderately hard with a beautiful grain, and is used as material for construction and for making furniture and arts and crafts, etc. In traditional Chinese medicine, the seeds and wood are used as medicine, with the effects of clearing heat, promoting diuresis and relieving alcohol toxicity. In ancient books, there are many interesting records of its alcohol-relieving toxicity.
The chicken-claw pear grows fast and has excellent timber. The tree can reach 20 to 25 m tall. Its wood is purplish-red, moderately hard, with a beautiful grain and easy to process. It is not only a high-quality timber for construction and interior decoration, but also a superior material for making fine furniture, arts and crafts, vehicles and boats, gun stocks, and so on. It is used for both seed/fruit and timber, has strong adaptability, and is also an excellent new tree species for returning farmland to forest, western development, resource development of hilly and barren land, and modern greening.