Chinaberry Facts
Chinaberry Facts
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| Interesting Chinaberry Facts: |
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| Chinaberry is medium-sized tree that can reach 30 to 50 feet in height. It has dense crown that can be round or umbrella-shaped. |
| Chinaberry has dark brown or purple reddish bark. Initially smooth, bark becomes scaly, deeply furrowed after couple of years. |
| Chinaberry produces large, odd-pinnate leaves composed of lance-shaped leaflets with serrated edges. Leaves are dark green colored on the upper surface, pale colored on the bottom side and alternately arranged on the branches. |
| Crushed leaves of chinaberry emit unpleasant aroma. |
| Chinaberry develops pale purple, tubular flowers arranged in multi-branched clusters that grow from the axils of leaves. Flowers have sweet, magnolia-like odor. Chinaberry produces perfect flowers (they contain both types of reproductive organs). |
| Chinaberry blooms during the spring. Flowers does not attract bees and butterflies. Some types of hummingbirds occasionally visit flowers and take part in the pollination. Most flowers perform self-pollination. |
| Fruit of chinaberry is light yellow berry-like drupe. Chinaberries change color into white and become wrinkled during the winter. |
| All parts of chinaberry (including berries) contain neurotoxins (group of toxic compounds) that induce diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, stomach pain, seizures, pulmonary congestion and cardiac arrest in humans, house pets and farm animals. |
| Birds tolerate toxins in the berries, but they fly like they are "drunk" after consumption of this fruit. They eliminate seed via feces and facilitate spreading of chinaberry in the wild. |
| Dried chinaberries can be used for the preparation of necklaces, earrings and bracelets. Dried seed were used for the preparation of rosary beads in the past. |
| Seed of chinaberry was used as narcotic in the past. Bark was used in treatment of intestinal parasites. Peptides isolated from leaves of chinaberry are used in treatment of herpes simplex virus today. |
| Chinaberries was used as soap in the past. Mashed chinaberries mixed with water were used for cleaning of dirty clothes in the USA. |
| Chinaberry has reddish wood that is used for the manufacture of cabinets, veneer and furniture. |
| Demand for chinaberry in ornamental purposes is dropping because of its root which induces damage on the sanitary pipes and clogging of drains. Also, trunk of chinaberry tree is very weak and it easily splits during the storms, while chinaberries quickly turn sidewalks into dangerously slippery surfaces. |
| Chinaberry is perennial plant that can survive 40 to 150 years in the wild. |
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