Emerald tree, better known as China doll, is a glossy-leaved houseplant that is actually a tree reaching about 100 ft (30 m) tall in the mountains of southern China and Taiwan. It is also called serpent tree, after its long, twisting seedpods.
Appearance
- Growth form
- Evergreen tree; dwarf cultivars top out at about 10 ft (3 m).
- Leaves
- Large, finely divided leaves 8–28 in (20–70 cm) long, made up of many shiny leaflets about 0.8–1.6 in (2–4 cm) long.
- Flowers
- Fragrant white to pale yellow trumpet-shaped flowers about 3 in (7 cm) long. They open at night and last a single night.
- Fruit
- Long, slender brown pods that twist like snakes.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Subtropical mountain forests
- Indoor pots
- Range
- Native to subtropical mountains of southern China and Taiwan. In the US it is mostly seen as a houseplant; it has escaped and naturalized in Florida and on Oʻahu, Hawaii.
- Preferred conditions
- Grows in warm tropical and subtropical climates and does well in containers.
Life cycle
- Seed dispersal
- Pods split to release papery, winged seeds carried by the wind.
Name and classification
- About the name
- In the trumpet-creeper family (Bignoniaceae). Formerly also called Stereospermum sinicum. Dwarf forms are sometimes sold as Asian bell tree.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- It has naturalized on Oʻahu, and a Hawaii weed risk screening advises caution, though no harm to native ecosystems there has been documented so far.
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