Caragana: A Flower as Beautiful as the Golden Pheasant

As one of the most gorgeous species among the birds of the Phasianidae family, the Golden Pheasant, native to China, is renowned both at home and abroad and widely known. In fact, the plant kingdom also has a group known as "golden pheasant," namely the native plant we are introducing today - Caragana.

Golden Pheasant (calphotos.berkeley.edu)

Caragana sinica belongs to the genus Caragana in the subfamily Faboideae of the family Fabaceae. It is native to North China, East China, Central China, South China and Southwest China, and often grows on hillsides and in shrublands. When it blooms in spring, it often forms a golden expanse, which is quite spectacular.

Caragana, newly opened flowers are bright yellow.

1 The Origin of the Name

According to the Flora of China, the name "Caragana" comes from the Jiuhuang Bencao written by Zhu Su in the Ming Dynasty. Volume 6 states: "Bachi flower, originally named Caragana flower, also known as jiangbanzi. It grows in the mountains and wilds and in people's gardens and homes, and is also often planted in gardens and courtyards. Its leaves resemble those of the Chinese wolfberry but are smaller, and every four leaves grow clustered together; the branches and stems also resemble those of the Chinese wolfberry and have small thorns. It bears yellow flowers shaped like a chicken, and produces small pods, sweet in taste." In other words, it is named "Caragana" because its flower shape resembles a chicken. "Jin" originally means "brightly colored silk fabric with patterns," later extended to mean "gorgeous and vivid." Since Caragana flowers are yellow and often tinged with red, and are "shaped like a chicken," it thus received the elegant name "Caragana."

Caragana, the flowers turn orange-red to dark red in the later blooming stage, so a single tree will have flowers of several different colors, truly splendid and flourishing.

The Latin genus name Caragana comes from the Latinized Khargana, the Mongolian name for other species in the same genus, while the specific epithet sinica was explained in the previous article introducing Wisteria (click here), meaning "from China," referring to China being the type locality of this species.

2 Diverse Uses

From Zhu Su's description of Caragana, we can see that Caragana was already cultivated in people's courtyards in ancient China. This practice has continued to the present day, and in some rural areas of East China, Caragana shrubs planted in front of and behind houses can still be seen. Besides being cultivated as an ornamental garden plant, Caragana is also often used as bonsai material. In addition, the root bark of Caragana is often used in traditional Chinese medicine. In East China, people also collect and eat its flowers, and it is often called "golden sparrow flower" because its flowers resemble golden sparrows.

Caragana, according to the Flora of China, is found in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Hebei, Shaanxi, Jiangxi, Fujian, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, northern Guangxi, Sichuan, Guizhou and Yunnan. It grows on hillsides and in shrublands. The type specimen was collected from China.

It should be noted that another plant often used as an ornamental potted plant, Genista stenopetala, is also commonly called "golden sparrow flower." This group is rich in cytisine, an alkaloid that is toxic to humans. Experiments have shown that it can cause breathing difficulties and even death, and it is also teratogenic. The flowers of Genista stenopetala may also contain this toxic substance, so it is recommended not to collect and eat them.

Genista stenopetala, an ornamental small shrub introduced from abroad in recent years.

Molecular structure of cytisine (wikipedia.org)

3 A Flower That Is "Showy but Fruitless"

Many people have seen Caragana flowers, but few have seen Caragana bear fruit, and there is a reason for this. According to a 2002 domestic study on the chromosome karyotypes of 14 species in the genus Caragana, Caragana is triploid. Triploid organisms are often sterile because they have difficulty undergoing meiosis to form gametes. Although the Flora of China provides a morphological description of Caragana pods, it is probably rare to see a Caragana that can actually bear fruit.

4 The Diverse Caragana Family

The Flora of China records that the genus Caragana has more than 100 species worldwide, of which 62 are native to China; the book Legumes of the World considers that the genus Caragana has 80-90 species worldwide; the late famous legume expert Mr. Zhao Yizhi, in his monograph Classification and Floristic Geography of the Genus Caragana in the World, considered that the genus Caragana has 63 species worldwide; and the Flora of China considers that the genus Caragana has about 100 species worldwide, of which 66 are native to China.

From the above data, we can roughly see the complex and variable morphology of plants in the genus Caragana. Besides Caragana sinica, C. rosea is also often used as an ornamental plant; C. microphylla and C. korshinskii are often used as forage (C. rosea and C. microphylla are often considered the parent species of Caragana sinica); C. sibrica is often used for landscaping and courtyard ornamental plants, and so on. In addition, a domestic molecular study in recent years showed that Halimodendron halodendron, native to Central Asia and northwestern China, should be merged into this genus, so its Latin name should become Caragana halodendron. It is these members that make up the large family of the genus Caragana.

Caragana rosea (Dave's Garden)

Caragana sibrica (wikipedia.org)

Halimodendron halodendron (jaredsgarden.com)