This plant that is blooming on the roadside is actually the raw material for banknotes!

Do you know "Jiexiang"? Yes, it is the plant with branches so soft that they can be tied into knots. You may find this name a bit unfamiliar, but if you live in the south, you may have been "sneak-shot" by its fragrance.

Perhaps that’s why the sweet fragrance is planted near public toilets? | Photo by the author

Edgeworthia chrysantha is more common in the south of the Yangtze River Basin . It is an interesting shrub with golden "shower heads" and one of the earliest deciduous shrubs to bloom. The densely clustered branches of Edgeworthia chrysantha are less than one meter high, and the bare branches are hung with yellow flower balls. It is a peculiar plant with flowers and leaves that do not meet.

Its "fragrance" is of course self-evident, but have you ever thought about what the "knot" represents?

This flower may look a bit scary, but it is actually very fragrant!

Perhaps you have never noticed the appearance of the osmanthus in summer, because at that time it looks like just an ordinary large shrub. The thick branches usually branch out in threes, forming dense and regular bushes, with narrow and soft leaves concentrated on the upper part of the branches.

The “unattractive” branches and leaves of the Fragrant Osmanthus fragrans | Photo by the author

In early autumn, tender green flower buds quietly appear on the top of the branches, hidden among the leaves. In the bleak winter, the leaves of the osmanthus fall off, leaving only silver-white "little lanterns" hanging on the brown-red branches, waiting for the spring breeze to wake them up.

The jasmine flower that is about to bloom | Shanghai Natural History Museum

The hairy silvery-white buds of the osmanthus tree Source: farmyardnurseries.co.uk

In early spring, the flower buds of the jasmine plant produce golden yellow flowers. The flower head consists of 30 to 50 small flowers. When fully open, the inflorescence is hemispherical, like a honeycomb hanging on the treetops. The flowers of the jasmine plant have no petals, and the calyx is specialized into a tubular corolla. Therefore, if you look closely at the jasmine plant's small flowers, you can find that the outermost layer does not have a green calyx.

The tubular corolla of the jasmine tree | Photo by the author

The outside of the corolla is covered with soft hairs that remain in the bud stage, and the top is 4 fleshy lobes arranged in a cross shape. The inside of the lobes is dark yellow when the flowers first bloom, and slowly turns into milky white. Because the small flowers on the inflorescence bloom from the outside to the inside, subtle gradient colors can be seen on the same inflorescence. The stamens are located at the opening of the tubular corolla and are not very conspicuous.

The flowers of the jasmine can release a large amount of volatile esters and a small amount of aldehydes and ketones . Its strong aroma is undoubtedly a restaurant's call for hungry pollinating insects in the cold spring. However, due to the long tubular flowers, only insects with long mouthparts can more easily enjoy the essence of the jasmine, such as the long-beaked hawk moth that often impersonates a hummingbird. For humans, the jasmine flowers also have the potential to extract aromatic essential oils.

The osmanthus trees planted in the city don't seem to bear much fruit. When the top buds of the branches begin to stretch out leaves, the small milky white flowers fall to the ground.

In addition to the original species with yellow flowers, gardeners have also bred a variety with deep red flowers, called "Red Dragon ", but this variety does not seem to have been introduced or is not common in China.

"Red Dragon" Incense | Source: dreamstime.com

It can be used to “tie knots” to make wishes and can also be used to make banknotes?

After talking about "fragrance", let's take a look at what "knot" means.

Although the branches of the osmanthus tree look relatively thick and have many rough leaf marks, they are actually very flexible and can be tied into knots! This is because its bark contains a large amount of strong and soft bast fibers, and the wood is also very flexible and not easy to break.

Incense that can be easily tied into a knot | Shanghai Natural History Museum

However, when appreciating flowers, it is better to stop at a certain point . It is enough to slightly bend the branches and feel its flexibility. If everyone ties knots, it will be suspected of destroying the greenery.

Such sticks can be used for more than just tying knots. The main raw material for paper is plant fiber (cellulose). For ordinary paper used for writing, printing or cleaning, wood and bamboo, reeds, straw and other materials that are easily available in large quantities are sufficient.

However, special paper such as high-grade calligraphy and painting paper and banknotes that need to be circulated frequently have high requirements for the strength and durability of paper, and some plant fibers with better performance are needed , such as cotton (one of the raw materials for RMB paper), hemp, and bark of mulberry, paper mulberry and celtis sinensis (important raw materials for Xuan paper), and the bark of the osmanthus tree is one of the best. Their fibers are long, fine, flexible and shiny. The new version of banknotes issued by Japan in July 2024 uses the bark of the osmanthus tree as one of the main raw materials .

The wood core left after the bark is removed from the branches of the osmanthus tree is also a good material for weaving baskets . In the mountainous areas of southern Zhejiang, osmanthus has been planted as an economic plant for more than 30 years, and the harvested bark and stems provide considerable income for the local area.

Except for the osmanthus fragrans, the entire Daphne family is wonderful!

The jasmine belongs to the Thymelaeaceae family, which is not a large family. The jasmine is probably the most common and well-known species among them. Many species of the Thymelaeaceae family have fragrant flowers and flexible branches like the jasmine.

1

Lunar New Year Flower: Daphne odora

In addition to the osmanthus, the most common species we see is probably the variant of Daphne odora , D. odora f. marginata . The plant of D. odora f. marginata is relatively short, and because it blooms in winter and spring, it often appears as a potted plant at the New Year flower market . Like the osmanthus, the flowers of D. odora f. marginata are also very fragrant, and the branches are also flexible.

Copyright images in the gallery. Reprinting and using them may lead to copyright disputes.

2

The raw material of the intangible cultural heritage Dongba paper: Lijiang ragweed

The ancient city of Lijiang in Yunnan has an intangible cultural heritage product that has been in existence since the Tang Dynasty - Dongba paper , which is said to be able to be preserved for a thousand years. Dongba paper is made from the bark of the Wikstroemia plant of the Thymelaeaceae family . After removing the outer bark (cork layer), it is made through a process of steaming, beating, papermaking and drying.

Like the bark of the japanese osmanthus tree used to produce banknotes in Japan, the bark of the osmanthus tree also contains a large amount of long and flexible bast fibers, so the texture of Dongba paper is very tough and does not break when exposed to water. And because the osmanthus tree has a certain "toxicity", the paper made from it is not damaged by insects and is easy to preserve for a long time.

3

Famous spices: Agarwood

Another well-known plant of the Thymelaeaceae family is the Aquilaria sinensis . The flowers of Aquilaria sinensis are fragrant, but it is more famous for the resin secreted when its branches and trunks are traumatized. The wood of Aquilaria sinensis is soaked in these aromatic resins, forming the famous "agarwood".

Whether it's the osmanthus quietly blooming in the green spaces of parks in early spring, or the daphne that serves as a desk decoration around the end of the year, they all speak with their sweet scent that permeates the wind, telling us that there is such a small but versatile plant family around us.

A tree of osmanthus in full bloom, go out and look for it! Copyright image, reprinting may cause copyright disputes

References

[1] Flora of China, Flora of China Editorial Committee, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Science Press.

[2] Cao Jiaoxian. Analysis of volatile oil from jasmine flowers by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry[D]. Zhejiang University, 2005.

Planning and production

Source: Shanghai Natural History Museum

Author: Zhou Mingwei, Institute of Biology, Shanghai Ocean University

Review丨Wang Kang, Director of the Science Museum of the National Botanical Garden

Editor: Wang Mengru

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin

The cover image and the images in this article are from the copyright library

Reprinting may lead to copyright disputes