What is the difference between French plane tree, paulownia, and Chinese parasol tree?
The Chinese parasol tree is a deciduous tree of the family Sterculiaceae. It is not related to the tung tree (Euphorbiaceae), the paulownia of the family Scrophulariaceae, or the French plane tree (Platanaceae), despite sharing the name "tong."
The Chinese parasol tree is tall and imposing, with a trunk free of knots that rises straight upward, holding aloft a great emerald-green umbrella of foliage with a spirited bearing. Its bark is smooth and jade-green, its leaves dense, and from trunk to branch it is lush throughout, appearing exceedingly elegant and clean - no wonder people also call it "qingtong" (green paulownia). "A single green jade stands upright, a thousand leaves like green clouds piled up" - these two lines of poetry capture to the fullest the charm of the Chinese parasol tree's green leaves and jade trunk, and the graceful shade it casts.
The Chinese parasol tree is a beautiful ornamental plant, adorning courtyards and the fronts of residences, and is also planted as a street tree. Its leaves are palmate, with lobes like flowers. It blooms in summer, is monoecious, with small, pale yellow-green flowers in panicles, appearing bright and vivid when in full bloom. Folk legend says that the phoenix likes to perch on the Chinese parasol tree, and Li Bai also wrote the line "How could one know the phoenix's intent, far entrusted before the chair-tree and tong." In reality, this is simply people's hope for a beautiful life.
Ancient books say: the Chinese parasol tree can "know leap years" and "know autumn." It is said that on each branch, in an ordinary year it grows 12 leaves, with 6 on each side, while in a leap year it grows 13 leaves. This was deduced from an accidental coincidence; in reality there is no such natural law. As for "knowing autumn," that is indeed a phenological phenomenon and pattern - "when one leaf falls from the Chinese parasol tree, all under heaven know autumn has come" - which is both scientifically sound and poetic.
Poets observed the drifting scene of falling leaves, using the scenery to express their feelings, voicing endless regret and emotion to lament their own fortunes. "Flowers bloom as withered chrysanthemums beside the sparse fence, leaves fall as the declining tong drops into the cold well," "The Chinese parasol leaves fall and autumn is already deep, the cold moon's clear light brings boundless sorrow." In fact, falling leaves are not a sign of a tree's aging, but rather the tree adapting to its environment, entering a cold-resistant, drought-resistant dormancy while preparing for new growth in spring.
The Chinese parasol tree is native to China and Japan. It likes light, likes deep, moist soil, and grows quickly. Its fruit divides into 5 mericarps; before the mericarps mature they split open in the shape of small boats, with seeds borne on the edges. China has two species of Chinese parasol tree: one is the Chinese parasol tree, and the other is the Yunnan parasol tree. The Yunnan parasol tree has rough, gray-black bark, and its leaf margins are generally three-lobed.
The wood of the Chinese parasol tree is dense, with a fine grain, and can be used to make musical instruments and furniture. The bark fiber can be used to make paper and ropes. The seeds are edible and can also be pressed for oil. The leaves are used as medicine or as pesticide.
The world-famous street tree - the "French plane tree" - is also commonly seen in China's parks and along roadsides. In fact, this is a misnomer passed down through error. The Chinese horticulturist Chen Zhi determined that its name is "sycamore" (Platanus). What people habitually call the "French plane tree" is merely one kind of Platanus. Originally, the genus Platanus has 8 species, native to North America, Mexico, the Mediterranean, and India. Three species have been introduced and planted in China. The fruits on the infructescence stalk of Platanus may have 1 fruit ball, 2 fruit balls, or more than 3 fruit balls, and therefore the names differ, being called one-ball Platanus, two-ball Platanus, and three-ball Platanus respectively - these are three different species.
Why is Platanus called the "French plane tree"? Originally, this tree's leaves resemble those of the Chinese parasol tree, so it was mistaken for one, and the "French plane tree" is not actually native to France. In the 17th century, in Oxford, England, people used the one-ball Platanus (also called the American sycamore) and the three-ball Platanus (also called the Oriental plane) as parent plants to hybridize the two-ball Platanus, naming it "London plane." Because it is a hybrid, it has no place of origin. After it was widely cultivated in Europe, the French brought it to Shanghai and planted it along Avenue Joffre (the present-day Middle Huaihai Road area) as a street tree. People called it the "French plane tree," and one person after another repeated it, treating it as the Chinese parasol tree.
The parent of the two-ball Platanus, the three-ball Platanus, is also called the cut-leaf Platanus or the Kumarajiva tree. In 401 AD, the Indian monk Kumarajiva came to China to spread Buddhism, bringing this tree with him and planting it in front of an ancient temple in Huxian County near Xi'an; the trunk still survives today and requires 4 people to encircle it. This is the earliest introduced Platanus in China. Unfortunately, this three-ball Platanus was not promoted in Xi'an either; Xi'an's street trees are the two-ball Platanus introduced from Shanghai.
The other parent, the one-ball Platanus, is native to North America, and has been introduced and planted in Shanghai, Nanjing, Beijing, Qingdao, and other places, where it grows well. Today, the two-ball Platanus is used in large quantities as a street tree in cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Xi'an, and Zhengzhou.
The Chinese parasol tree's trunk looks very much like a white poplar, very straight (this is also one of the reasons it is used for the body of the guzheng), and its leaves are triangular-star-shaped, with the trunk generally not thick. In autumn, the leaves turn pale yellow, very poetic. The fruit is a spherical solid fruit, about 4-5 mm in diameter, with a thin shell, and can be eaten raw or stir-fried, very fragrant; in season, it is sold in Beijing farmers' markets, but it wastes time - of course it is better than your Zhejiang hickory nuts, like pomegranates; pomegranates really are good-looking but a waste of time to eat. The Chinese parasol tree, however, is not suitable for shade.
The French plane tree, by contrast, has a thick, large trunk (not very thick either, but thicker than the Chinese parasol tree), and its leaves are also triangular-star-shaped, only much larger. Its fruits are very small and inedible. The leaves turn brownish-yellow in autumn, certainly not as good-looking as those of the Chinese parasol tree. Its crown is very large, and because the leaves are very big, it almost completely blocks the sunlight above the crown, so it is most suitable as a shade tree for sidewalks.
Paulownia is a fast-growing, strongly heliophilous tree species. It likes warmth, likes fertilizer, and likes moisture but fears waterlogging. Growth is inhibited when the temperature is above 38°C, and it suffers cold damage at an absolute minimum temperature of -20°C, and afforestation in low-lying waterlogged land is unlikely to survive. Slightly acidic to neutral soil is suitable, while it grows poorly in calcareous soil.