Aglaia odorata Lour.

Chinese perfume tree (en)

Species

Angiosperms > Sapindales > Meliaceae > Aglaia

Characteristics

Shrubs or small trees, much branching. Young branches apically with stellate or lepidote trichomes. Leaves 5-12(-16) cm; petiole and rachis narrowly winged; leaflets 3-7(or 9), opposite; leaflet blades usually obovate, sometimes elliptic, 1-7(-11) × 0.5-3.5(-5) cm with apical one biggest, both surfaces glabrous, secondary veins 8 on each side of midvein, very slender, and ± prominent on both surfaces, base cuneate, apex obtuse. Thyrses axillary, 5-10 cm, lax, glabrous. Flowers fragrant, ca. 2 mm in diam. Pedicel of male flowers 1.5-3 mm, slender. Pedicel of female flowers short and thick. Calyx 5-lobed, lobes round. Petals 5, yellow, oblong to suborbicular, 1.5-2 mm, apex rounded to truncate. Staminal tube slightly shorter than petals, obovoid to subcampanulate, outside glabrous, apical margin entire or lobed; anthers 5, ovoid, included. Ovary ovoid, densely covered with yellow trichomes. Fruit indehiscent, ovoid to subglobose, 1-1.2 cm, scattered stellate lepidote but glabrescent. Seeds with a fleshy aril. Fl. May-Dec, fr. Jul-Mar.
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A small tree. It grows 5-8 m tall. The leaves have leaflets along the stalk. There are 3-7 leaflets opposite each other and these are 1-7 cm long by 1-4 cm wide. The flowers are golden yellow. They grow in clusters along the branches. They droop and have a scent. They smell like cymbidiums and look like rice grains which gives it its Chinese name. Trees are separately male and female.
Bush or sometimes tree to 10 m. Indumentum of yellowish-brown stellate scales, especially dense on shoot apex and fruit surface. Leaves imparipinnate, 1-or 2-(or 3-) jugate, rachis sometimes narrowly winged. Inflorescence with widely spaced, yellow, fragrant flowers. Fruits obovoid, c. 1 by 0.7 cm, red, brown or orange.
Shrub or small tree up to 10 m. tall.. Leaflets 3–5, glabrous, venation reticulate on both surfaces.. Flowers very small, in axillary panicles, strongly scented, used (elsewhere) for flavouring tea and perfuming clothes.. Fruit a small cleistocarp.
Life form -
Growth form tree
Growth support free-standing
Foliage retention evergreen
Sexuality dioecy
Pollination entomogamy
Spread -
Mature width (meter) 1.0
Mature height (meter) 8.0
Root system -
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) 0.3
Flower color
Blooming months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Fruit color
Fruiting months
JanFebMar
AprMayJun
JulAugSep
OctNovDec
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

An understorey shrub in sparse forests or thickets in mountainous regions at low elevations in southern China. Evergreen forests; more open, secondary formations; along the coast; often in clay soils; at elevations to 700 metres.
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A tropical plant. It grows in rainforest. It needs a rich, fertile soil. It can grow in sun or light shade. It can grow in midly acidic or neutral soils. It needs a temperature above 15-18°C. In XTBG Yunnan. In Sichuan.
Light 4-7
Soil humidity 2-7
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

Commonly cultivated for its ornamental value, male trees more often than females. Strongly perfumed flowers used for scenting tea or clothes.
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The dried flowers are used to flavour tea. The tender leaves are eaten as a vegetable.
Uses environmental use food material medicinal ornamental social use tea wood
Edible flowers leaves
Therapeutic use Fever (flower), Anticonvulsants (leaf), Antipyretics (leaf), Insect repellents (leaf), Insecticides (leaf), Menorrhagia (leaf), General tonic for rejuvenation (leaf), Insect repellents (stem), Insecticides (stem), Dysmenorrhea (unspecified), Fever (unspecified), Parturition (unspecified), Shampoo (unspecified), Tonic (unspecified), Venereal (unspecified), Antineoplastic agents (unspecified)
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Trees can be grown by air layering.
Mode cuttings seedlings
Germination duration (days) -
Germination temperacture (C°) -
Germination luminosity -
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -

Images

Leaf

Aglaia odorata leaf picture by Garden Lucky (cc-by-sa)

Distribution

Aglaia odorata world distribution map, present in China, India, Cambodia, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Mauritius, Philippines, Réunion, Thailand, Taiwan, Province of China, and Viet Nam

Conservation status

Aglaia odorata threat status: Near Threatened

Identifiers

LSID urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:577227-1
WFO ID wfo-0000524243
COL ID 65S34
BDTFX ID -
INPN ID 448276
Wikipedia (EN) Link
Wikipedia (FR)

Synonyms

Opilia odorata Aglaia oblanceolata Aglaia odorata Aglaia chaudocensis Aglaia duperreana Aglaia pentaphylla Aglaia sinensis Camunium chinense Aglaia repoeuensis Aglaia odorata var. chaudocensis Aglaia odorata var. microphyllina Aglaia odorata var. odorata