The homeland of this tree, a representative of the root family, is the Far East. Velvet, or Amur fellodendron (Phellodendron amurense), includes several similar varieties, found in Primorye, Khabarovsk Territory, Kuril Islands, Japan, China. Common habitats are deciduous, deciduous-coniferous forests of plains and on mountain slopes no higher than 700 m above sea level.
Botanical Description
Velvet is a relict species that existed on the planet before the ice age. Under ordinary conditions, this tree grows to 25–28 m, the thickness of trunks can exceed 1.5 m. It is demanding on the soil, prefers fertile and loamy soils, and does not grow on sandstones. He loves the sun and moisture, but is insensitive to drought, as it has powerful rod roots. Lives up to 250-300 years.
The velvets planted in the middle zone are quite stunted, their height is 6–10 m. The bark is silver gray, soft and thick. In young trees, it is smooth and light, darkens with age, covered with deep grooves. The top layer is a porous, lightweight cork, velvety to the touch, easily detached and clearly delimited from the yellow bast. The thickness of the bark of old trees is up to 7 cm.
In single plants, the branches are spaced almost horizontally, forming a sprawling, tent-like or umbrella-carved crown, starting at a short distance from the ground, shoots of forest specimens stretch upward.
The leaves are dark green complex, pinnate, composed of several lanceolate narrow plates with pointed tips located next to the central petioles. Blossom very late in early June. Leaf fall, by contrast, is early, by October already ending.
Amur velvet is a dioecious plant. It blooms in July, throwing out small, nondescript panicle brushes. It blooms for the first time in the 16-18 year of life. A characteristic feature of the flowers of fellodendron, like most of the root, is a sharp specific smell, also characteristic of leaves and crushed bark. It’s impossible to call him pleasant.
After pollination of inflorescences by bees or other insects, fruit sets ovary. The berries of the tree are small black shiny balls of drupe about 0.5–1 cm in size, collected in small tassels. Inside the berries there are up to 5 seeds. Ripen in early or mid-October and stored on branches until winter. The fruiting of the velvet is plentiful; 8-10 kg of fruits ripen in a large tree per year.
Tree use
Useful find all parts of the plant. Amur velvet wood is valued for its beautiful natural pattern and high technical characteristics. The core is mainly used, since the sapwood is very narrow. The hue of the massif is light brown with dark strokes and strokes, the core rays are almost invisible, the surface on the slices is silky. The material warps a little during the drying process, is moisture resistant, and is not damaged by the fungus. It lends itself to cutting, grinding, gluing, impregnation. Velvet is similar in quality to ash, but softer and darker. In construction, it is used little because of the large number of knots. Wood goes to the production of furniture, planed veneer.
Velvet arouses industrial interest as a corkpot. Sound and heat-insulating finishing materials are made from the upper light porous part of the bark. In quality, this raw material is in no way inferior to the famous cork tree. The layer of bark necessary for industry can be removed from trees without resorting to felling, but leaving them to grow further.
Fellodendron berries are unsuitable for food, it tastes very bitter with an unpleasant tarry smell. When eating more than 3-4 pieces, they can cause severe intoxication: vomiting, stomach cramps, headache.
However, these fruits have medicinal properties:
- They, as well as leaves and bark, contain tannins, alkaloids, coumarins, and ether compounds.
- In folk medicine, the fruits of Amur velvet are used to treat fever, kidney disease, dermatitis, arthritis, diabetes mellitus, and high blood pressure.
- A decoction of berries and leaves of the tree is used as a bactericidal and anthelmintic agent.
During the flowering period of fellos, the bees collect a lot of honey from them.
Planting and reproduction
Amur velvet fits perfectly into any landscape, giving a picturesque view of the surroundings. It is easy to grow a tree in your own garden or on a house plot. It can be planted on the lawn, in an ensemble with conifers, birches, oaks, maples. Considering that over time the tree is distributed in breadth, when choosing a place, you must carefully calculate at what distance from the walls, fences and other plants an adult velvet will be in a few years. Underground communications should also be set aside.
The best time for landing is April or the first half of September. Seedlings of 1–2 years of age are best suited. For them, you need to dig holes with a depth and width of 60 cm, fill with a mixture of humus, turf and leafy soil, adding a little sand. The hole must be allowed to stand for a week, then you can plant a tree.
Adult velvet is propagated by seeds or cuttings. In the first case, the seed collected in the fall should be stratified by storage for 3 months in a cool, ventilated area. If this was not possible, the seeds are soaked in hot water for several days before sowing. Planting is carried out in a nutrient mixture from garden soil, peat and humus. You can sow immediately in open ground to a depth of 3-5 cm. In the first 2 years, the sprouted shoots will have to be carefully looked after, regularly watering, loosening the soil and removing weeds. For winter, landing sites need to be mulched.
Velvet cuttings are cut in spring or summer, in early June. Before rooting, they are dug for several weeks in moist soil.
Care
Watering seedlings is required only in the first 2 seasons and in dry periods. Top dressing is needed regularly. As fertilizers fit:
- compost,
- rotted manure
- urea,
- complex mineral compounds.
It is required to periodically loosen the periostemal circle to provide moisture to the root system of the tree. To protect against drying out, you can mulch the soil with needles or lay sod.
Young velvets give a strong increase. In the first year after planting, they increase in height by 40-50 cm, after another 2 years they can extend up to 1.5 m.
Trimming the crown of plants is done carefully and only in those cases when they want to avoid too low branching of trunks. Drying shoots are also required. Places of cuts must be treated with var. Adult pallodendrons are not afraid of severe frosts, but frost damage can occur on young trees. They also need to be processed.
Within a few years, the tree will grow stronger and become more resistant to adverse weather, strong winds, hot sun and drought..
If you want to get a fruiting tree, you need to plant nearby male and female specimens.