Platycarya (Platycarya strobilacea) is a walnut relative from East Asia whose cone-like fruits stay on the bare branches into winter. Unlike walnuts, its upright summer catkins are pollinated mostly by insects. It does not grow wild in the US and is grown mainly in a few arboretums.
Appearance
- Growth form
- A small to medium deciduous tree, usually up to about 50 ft (15 m), sometimes shrubby. Bark is dark gray, rough, and furrowed.
- Leaves
- Pinnate leaves up to 12 in (30 cm) long, with 7–15 leaflets, each about 1–4 in (3–11 cm) long. The leaf stalk can be pink to red.
- Flowers
- Erect clusters of catkins at the tips of new shoots. Male catkins are yellow and scented. Because they open in summer, they are less likely to be hit by late frosts than walnut flowers.
- Flowering time
- June–July in US gardens.
- Fruit
- A cone-like fruiting head about 1–2 in (2.5–5 cm) long, green ripening to brown, that stays on the tree into winter.
Look-alikes
TeaselDipsacus
Teasel is a tall herb with spiny flower heads on stems, while Platycarya's cone-like heads grow on the twigs of a woody tree.
Why they get mixed upThe stiff, persistent scales of the dried fruiting heads give them the look of a teasel head.
Where it lives
- Range
- Native to China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Vietnam, in mixed forests and thickets at about 1,300–4,600 ft (400–1,400 m). It does not grow wild in the US; it is found in a few specialist collections in the Pacific Northwest (Seattle, Portland) and on the East Coast, such as the US National Arboretum and the Arnold Arboretum.
- Flowering
Flowers Jun–Jul
Flowers Jun–Jul
Life cycle
- Seed dispersal
- Tiny flat winged nuts (3–6 mm) are carried by the wind.
Growing it
- Care
- USDA Zones 6–8, though hardiness is not well tested and may depend on seed source. It does best with plenty of space and is usually grown from fresh seed.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- Fossils show the genus once grew across the Northern Hemisphere from the , before ice-age climates restricted it to East Asia.
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