What are the uses and value of cherry blossom trees?
Cherry blossom is the collective name for several plants of the genus Cerasus in the rose family (Rosaceae). According to documentary evidence, they were already cultivated in Chinese imperial gardens during the Qin and Han dynasties more than 2,000 years ago, and during the Tang dynasty they commonly appeared in private courtyards. At that time, when all nations came to pay tribute, Japanese visitors brought cherry blossoms back to Japan, where they have a history of more than 1,000 years. Now let us take a look at what uses cherry blossom trees have!
Landscape value
Cherry blossoms are brightly and vividly colored, with luxuriant and vigorous branches and leaves, making them an important early-spring flowering tree species, often used for landscape viewing. They can be planted in groups, and can also be planted on hillsides, in courtyards, along roadsides, and in front of buildings. When in full bloom, the flowers are abundant and gorgeous, the whole tree is a riot of color, like clouds and rosy clouds, extremely spectacular. They can be planted in large patches to create a “sea of flowers” landscape, can be dotted in clusters of three or five in green spaces to form brocade-like masses, or can be planted alone, creating the pictorial charm of “a single spot of red among ten thousand acres of green.” Cherry blossoms can also be used as street trees along paths, as hedges, or made into bonsai.
Medicinal value
Cherry blossom bark and wood contain gentisic acid 5-glucoside and 5-rhamnose glucoside, and cherry glycoside; the wood contains d-catechin; the stems and leaves contain quercetin 3-galactoside; the young leaves contain coumarin, trans-o-hydroxycinnamic acid glucoside, and cyanogenic glycosides; the seed kernels contain 32% fatty oil, mainly a-eleostearic acid and sitosterol, and are used for symptoms such as cough and fever.
Skincare effects
Cherry blossoms have a very good effect on shrinking pores and balancing oil, and are rich in natural vitamins A, B, and E. Cherry leaf flavonoids also have the medicinal effects of beautifying the face, strengthening mucous membranes, and promoting sugar metabolism, making them a flower of youth that can be used to keep skin young. Cherry blossoms have the effect of softening skin and brightening skin tone, and are one of the important raw materials in skincare products, usually requiring extraction and refining. Experts once used a three-high fresh extraction technology to refine cherry blossoms into cherry blossom tender oil, and among the extracts there is a component called cherry blossom enzyme that is often used to remove acne.