The PALMEITO, Fall 1993, Page 3 Chinese Tallo\V Gets Worse! by Greg Jubinsky ",j~ //~ )", \~ ~\ /' . / //I~,-~J," J' ',' ,/ i., ." I . In 1988,an article entitled "Another f,' / i ~ Exotic Nuisance - the Chinese Tal• / ( /',' /' IiI', ~"C"\'" ' ' I low Tree" by Steve Farnsworth, pub• \I (I r;"-\,' ' ' lished in The Palmetto, Winter, 1988• 1 ,i ~ 89, referred to Chinese tallow tree "",",/ (Sapium sebiferum) as the "north Flori• da melaleuca", in reference to "chill• ing" similarities to the south and central Florida pest: its potential for rapid expansion; its promotion by beekeepers as a honey plant; and its ability to spread widely from a single parent tree, especially in moist areas. Chinese tallow tree - Sapium sebiferum (L.)Roxb.- is a member of the Euphorbiaceae, a family of more than 1,000species and varieties, many of which are classified as poisonous. Thegenus Sapium consists of approxi• mately 100 species. Common names for S. sebiferum in the United States include popcorn-tree, Florida aspen, Chinese tallow and Chinese tallow• tree. The latter names arise from the Since the initial introductions, it has yellow to red in the fall. It flowers fact that the outer layer of the seed spread into coastal prairie habitats, and fruits from the time it is about can be used to obtain solid vegetable and is now naturalized in the south• three feet (l m) tall. Inflorescence on tallow. The plant is known as the ern coastal plain from South Carolina some plants are solitary terminating popcorn-tree because of the appear• south to Florida and west to Texas. In branchlets, each narrowly cylindrical, ance of white seeds when the cap• Florida, it is distributed from the two to eight inches (5-20 cm) long. sules split open. Alabama border eastward to Jack• On other plants, the inflorescence is Distribution sonville and south as far as Tampa. branched. The fruit is usually three• The tree is a native of China, where According to the most recent survey lobed with one seed in each lobe. it has been cultivated for at least 14 conducted by the Department of Nat• Each fruit is about 0.4 of an inch (l centuries as a seed-oil crop. It has ural Resources, the plant can pres• cm) long and broad; it dehisces to been introduced to various subtrop• ently be found in 38 of the 67 Florida leave three dull white, roundish ical parts of the world, including the counties and is rapidly invading wild seeds covered with a white, waxy American sunbelt, as an ornamental areas where it has not been seen coating that stay attached to the plant plant. Earliest accounts reported that before, as evidenced by the fact that for a period of time, and superficially it was brought to Charleston, South thirteen of these counties have nu• resemble popcorn. Carolina, in the late 17oos. In the merous populations, numbering at It is commonplace to find trees 15 early 1900s the Foreign Plant Intro• least 50 trees per cluster, outside the to 20 feet tall (4.5-6 m), with some duction Division of the U.S. Depart• ornamental landscape. These clusters older sites having plants at heights of ment of Agriculture's Bureau of Plant are found adjacent to wetlands and in 30 to 40 feet (9-12 m). The national Industry introduced it to the U.s. disturbed sites. This is understand• champion, located in Travis County, Gulf coast in significant numbers able since Chinese tallow typically Texas, is 10 feet (3m) in circumfer• with the intent of establishing local thrives in upland, well-drained areas ence, 52 feet (l6m) in height, with an soap industries based upon the large near human habitation, as well as 86-foot (26m) spread. amounts of vegetable tallow found natural, undisturbed areas such as Biology around the seed. closed canopy forests, in bottomland Chinese tallow possesses the classi• Additionally, an oil, known as hardwood forests, on shores of water cal characteristics of most exotic pest stillingia oil, can be extracted from bodies and sometimes on floating islands. species: it grows quickly, fruits when the seed, and has been thoroughly young, produces abundant seeds, is investigated as an ingredient for Description resistant to native pests, grows in a varnishes and paints. The oil is con• S. sebiferum is a small to medium• wide range of soils, invades undis• sidered poisonous and has been sized tree with a milky sap that is turbed habitats, and has traits that proven to be toxic to cattle. The tree commonly thought to be poisonous. people find attractive and are there• produces heavy seed crops, and the It is a popular ornamental because of fore promoted and distributed. In oil in the seed averages 20% by its fast growth, resistance to pests, many cases, Chinese tallow has in• weight. and attractive foliage that becomes vaded Florida's ecosystems as a re- Page 4, The PALMETTO, Fall 1993 sult of human introductions. least partly effective for removing S. Cameron, G.N., and T.W. LaPoint. 1978. Effects of tannins on the decomposition of Chinese The plant is deciduous, losing sebifer1l1n. Preliminary Department of tallow leaves by terrestrial and aquatic inverte• leaves in autumn. Fruits ripen from Natural Resources' test results sug• brates. Oecologia (Berl.) 32:349-366. Cameron, G.N., and S.R Spencer. 1989. Rapid August to November. Maximum life gest an 11% triclopyr solution with leaf decay and nutrient release in a Chinese span is probably less than 100 years, JLB Oil Plus controls trees with dbh tallow forest. Oecologia (Berl.) 80:222-228. less than 6 inches (15 cm); while a Davies, F.T. Jr., and C.A. Call. 1990. Mycorrhizae though root stocks may live much survival and growth of selected woody plant longer. Typical trees live only 15 to 20% solution appears to work on species in lignite overburden in Texas, USA. larger trees. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 31 :243-252. 25 years. Farnsworth, S. 1988. Another exotic nuisance • The primary vectors for seed dis• Cutting of horizontal shoots results the Chinese tallow tree. The Palmetto, Winter persal are birds and moving waters. in the immediate production of small 1988-89. Godfrey, RK., and JW. Wooten. 1981. Aquatic Preliminary studies indicate that the independent plants, making mechani• and Wetland Plants of Southeastern United seeds can float for several weeks and cal control impractical. States: Dicotyledons. Univ. Georgia Press, Athens. still maintain their viability. The Habitat manipulation may help to Holm, L., J.V. Pancho, J.P. Herberger and D.L. species also regenerates from stump control the plant. Controlled burning Plucknett. 1979. A Geographical Atlas of World Weeds. Wiley-Interscience, New York. sprouts and is easily propagated by of Sapill1n is proposed to evaluate Hook, D.D. 1984. Adaptations to flooding with cuttings. It spreads over the land• whether this would work in Florida fresh water. pp. 265-294. InT.T. Kozlowski, Ed., Flooding and Plant Growth. Academic Press, scape at a high rate. Seedlings quick• ecosystems. New York. ly produce a taproot system and are The plant apparently lacks serious Jones, RH., and KW. McLeod. 1989. Shade able to withstand extended periods of insect biocontrols or pathogens in the tolerance in seedlings of Chinese tallow tree, American sycamore, and cherrybark oak. Bull. drought. United States, though the bagworm, Torrey Bot. Club 116:371-377. A high percentage of plants survive E1I1nefa, from Japan appears to be a Jones, R.H., and RR Sharitz. 1990. Effects of when inundated with fresh water, root competition and flooding on growth of pest. Chinese tallow tree seedlings. Can. J. For. Res. and when raised in soil wetted, but Summary 20:573-578. not inundated, with brackish water, Jubinsky, G., and J.D. Oliver. 1992. Suppression Chinese tallow has been spreading and survival of carrotwood and Chinese tallow giving them the potential for invad• across the southern coastal plain of in varying salinity, temperature, light and inun• ing freshwater lakes and rivers, as the United States, including Florida. dation conditions. Fla. Dept. Nat. Res., Bur. Aq. well as tidal estuarine and coastal Plant Manage., Tallahassee. wetlands. It is tolerant of shade, bright sun, and Lieux, M.H. 1975. Dominant pollen types recov• various soil conditions. It produces ered from commercial Louisiana USA honeys. Part of the flood tolerance in seed• Econ. Bot. 29:87-96. seeds after only three years of Liu, S.-Q., J.M. Pezzuto and A.D. Kinghorn. 1988. lings may be due to heavy growth of growth, but it can also reproduce Additionally biologically active constituents of lenticels and adventitious roots and the Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum). J. vegetatively. The seeds are used as Natur. Prod. 51 :619-620. the production of thicker feeder roots. food by wildlife, further disseminat• MacGowan, J.D. 1851. Uses of Stil/ingia sebifera These traits are related to an ability or tallow tree, with a notice of the pe-Ia, an ing the plant. It monopolizes space insect-wax of China. Am. J. Sci.12:17-22. to oxidize root regions and are typi• and colonizes in greater density than McDonald, D.L. 1989. A survey of public plantings cal of woody plants capable of sur• in the front yards of residences in Galveston, native flora. It competes with native Texas, USA. J. Ethnobiol. 9:31-46. viving prolonged flooding and low plants that provide preferred cover Miller, RH., and G.N. Cameron. 1983. soil redox potentials. and food for native fauna. Intraspecific variation of life history parameters The plant is restricted by climate In short, it is bad news. in the terrestrial isopod Armadillidium vulgare. only if temperatures drop below Oecologia (Berl.) 57:216-226.