scientific name

chinar

Another name

Platanus acerifolia, Platanus acerifolia, Platanus acerifolia

Family and genus

Platanus acerifolia

morphological character

Deciduous trees, more than 30 meters high, with smooth bark and large pieces falling off; The shoots are densely covered with grayish yellow fluff; The old branches are bald and reddish brown. The leaves are ovate in width,12-25cm in width and10-24cm in length. When the upper and lower surfaces are tender, there is a gray-yellow coat, and the lower coat is thicker and denser, and then it is bald. The base is truncated or slightly heart-shaped, and the upper half is palmately 5-cleft, sometimes 7-cleft or 3-cleft. Flowers usually count as four. Sepals of male flowers are ovate and hairy; Petals are rectangular; Stamens are longer than petals. Fruit branches have 1-2 heads and often droop; The head is about 2.5 cm in diameter, and there are no prominent hairs between nuts, or there are very short hairs.

geographical distribution

Originated from southeast Europe to west Asia, it has been introduced all over the world, and it has been widely cultivated in China from northeast, northwest and north China to central, southwest and east China.

Growth habit

Positive fast-growing trees like light, are not tolerant to shade, drought and humidity, and like warm and humid climate. They grow well in areas with annual average temperature 13-20℃ and annual precipitation of 800- 1200mm. It has strong cold tolerance and can grow normally in Xi, Beijing and Dalian, but it grows poorly in Guangzhou. In the north, the late frost in spring often hurts the tender leaves and buds and cracks the bark. Strong resistance can adapt to the soil conditions with poor air permeability in urban streets, but it is easy to be blown down by strong winds because of poor root development. The requirements for soil are not strict, with moist and fertile slightly acidic or neutral loam growing the most, and slightly alkaline or calcareous soil can also grow.

Garden value

Platanus acerifolia has a wide crown and thick leaves, and the cooling effect in summer is extremely remarkable. It is an excellent street tree species with strong adaptability and pruning and shaping resistance. Widely used in urban greening, planted alone on lawns or open spaces in gardens and on both sides of roads. Because it has strong resistance to a variety of toxic gases and can absorb harmful gases, it is very suitable for greening blocks, factories and mines.

economic value

The leaves of Platanus acerifolia can be used as roughage for livestock, culture medium for edible fungi, leaf protein extraction, fertilizer and heating agent raw material for insecticidal aerosol.

Plant defect

Adult plants will blossom and bear fruit in large quantities, and a large number of pollen will be formed every spring and summer. At the same time, last year's cones cracked and produced a lot of fruit hairs. According to statistics, a Platanus acerifolia with an annual age of 10 cm, DBH 10cm, can bear 200-400 cones every year, and each cone can produce about 2-5 million hairs. These floating pollen and fruit hairs easily enter the human respiratory tract, causing allergic reactions in some people, causing rhinitis, pharyngitis, bronchial inflammation and so on.