There is a magical forest in the South China National Botanical Garden, their bark is smooth, all brown-red, and there will be a little red powder when touched, which is the red-skinned rough fruit tea that has been assessed as "vulnerable" by the "China Biodiversity Red List - Higher Plant Volume (2020)".
Red-skinned brown fruit tea, also known as multi-bud brown fruit tea, is a small evergreen tree of the family Camelliaceae, which was first discovered by the former forest superintendent of Hong Kong in 1903 in Pak Ka Hill, Hong Kong. Its flowers are large, the size of an adult's palm, and the petals are white and flawless, fully blooming, holding yellow, dense stamens, which is the perfect combination to attract bees to pollinate. Therefore, when you walk into the grove full of red-skinned brown fruit tea, you can not only see the trees full of flowers and smell the intoxicating aroma, but also see the busy bees and hear the endless "buzzing" sound, which is the music played by the bees' hard work.
Red-skinned brown fruit tea grove.
The flowers of the red-skinned brown fruit tea.
According to reports, the flowering period of red-skinned brown fruit tea is from November to December, and the fruiting period is from December to January of the following year. The capsules of the red-skinned brown tea are huge, up to 10 centimeters in diameter, and the reddish-brown spherical capsules are the size of a navel orange, and the skin is very rough, which is one of the reasons for its name. The skin of the red-skinned brown fruit tea is very hard, and when ripe, the skin of the fruit up to 2 cm thick will split, revealing 9-15 chestnut-like seeds. The seeds are rich in oil, and the oil yield can reach 17%.
According to the South China National Botanical Garden, red-skinned brown fruit tea is endemic to China, distributed in Hong Kong, Guangxi (south), Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang (south), and is born in low-altitude, humus-rich forest red soil, and also in moist valleys. "Because the red-skinned brown fruit tea is not only an important oil plant, but also a very valuable ornamental plant, the wild resources are more likely to be destroyed, the wild area continues to decline, and the population of mature individuals is small, so it has been listed as a 'vulnerable' plant, and everyone needs to protect it. ”
The fruit of the red-skinned brown fruit tea.
Text and picture Guangzhou** New Flower City Reporter: Huang Lan Correspondent: Hua Zhixuan Guangzhou** New Flower City Editor: Li Fenghe.