''Cercidiphyllum magnificum'', known as the large-leaf katsura or magnificent katsura tree, is a species of flowering tree in the family Cercidiphyllaceae native to

Honshu , historically called , is the largest and most populous island of Japan. It is located south of Hokkaidō across the Tsugaru Strait, north of Shikoku across the Inland Sea, and northeast of Kyūshū across the Kanmon Straits. The island separ ...

, Japan. It is sometimes called caramel tree for the light, sweet smell it emits during leaf fall, sometimes compared to

cotton candy Cotton candy, also known as fairy floss and candy floss, is a spun sugar confection that resembles cotton. It usually contains small amounts of flavoring or food coloring. It is made by heating and liquefying sugar, and spinning it centrifu ...

(candyfloss) or "freshly baked biscuits and bread". It is grown as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

for its heart shaped leaves that in autumn turn a mixture of bright yellow, pink and orange-red.

Description

''Cercidiphyllum magnificum'' is a small

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree, growing to no more than 10 m in height and pyramidal to broadly conical in shape. The tree has a smooth bark. The twigs bear

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

that are dimorphic with both short and long shoots. The short shoots bear large cordate (heart-shape) or reniform (kidney shaped) leaves with palmate

venation Venation may refer to: * Venation (botany), the arrangement of veins in leaves * Wing venation, the arrangement of veins in insect wings See also * * Vernation Vernation (from ''vernal'' meaning ''spring'', since that is when leaves spring fort ...

and crenate margins, while the long shoots have leaves that are elliptic to broadly ovate with entire or finely serrate margins. The leaves are up to long and broad, and are initially bronze coloured, but in autumn turn a mixture of bright pink, violet and yellow, giving off a scent of burnt sugar when they fall, hence the name "caramel tree". The species is

dioecious Dioecy (; ; adj. dioecious , ) is a characteristic of a species, meaning that it has distinct individual organisms (unisexual) that produce male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproductio ...

, having separate male and female trees, with small inconspicuous

flowers A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

appearing early in spring that are wind pollinated. The flowers lack petals, the male being reddish and the female greenish. The female trees produce woody, pod-like

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

in clusters of 2–4, each about long. The pods contain many small flattened

seeds A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosperm pl ...

that are winged at both ends. It is similar to ''

Cercidiphyllum japonicum ''Cercidiphyllum japonicum'', known as the katsura (from its Japanese name カツラ, 桂), is a species of flowering tree in the family Cercidiphyllaceae native to China and Japan. It is sometimes called ''caramel tree'' for the light caramel sm ...

'', but can be distinguished by a combination of the following characteristics: ''C. magnificum'' is a smaller tree that typically has only a single main trunk (vs. large, canopy-forming, with multiple trunks); the leaves are more deeply crenated; the follicles are partially dehiscent, with slightly recurved tips (vs. follicles fully dehiscing and strongly recurving tips); grows at a higher elevation, rarely co-occurring with ''C. japonicum''.

Taxonomy

''Cercidiphyllum magnificum'' is, along with ''C. japonicum'', one of only two members of the genus ''

Cercidiphyllum ''Cercidiphyllum'' is a genus containing two species of plants, both commonly called katsura. They are the sole members of the monotypic family Cercidiphyllaceae. The genus is native to Japan and China and unrelated to ''Cercis'' (redbuds). Des ...

'' and family Cercidiphyllaceae. It was first described as a variety, ''C. japonicum'' var. ''magnificum'', in 1919 by Japanese botanist

Takenoshin Nakai was a Japanese botanist. In 19191919. Notulae and Plantas Japoniae at Koreae X XI. The Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) 33(395): 193–194. and 19301930. Plantae Japonicae & Koreanae. The Botanical Magazine (Tokyo) 44(526): 508. he published papers on ...

, then separated into a different species the following year in his ''Catalogus seminum et sporarum Hortus Botanicus Universitatis Imperialis Tokyoensis''. The type locality is from Honshu, Japan in the

Ashio Mountains was a town located in Kamitsuga District, Tochigi, Japan. As of 2003, the town had an estimated population of 3,465 and a density of 18.65 persons per km². The total area was 185.79 km². On March 20, 2006, Ashio, along with the city o ...

( Mount Nikkō-Shirane and Mount Konsei.

Distribution and habitat

''Cercidiphyllum magnificum'' is endemic to the central, forested mountainous areas of

Uses

The katsura wood is soft and light and used for cabinetry and paneling.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2946415 Saxifragales Trees of Japan Ornamental trees Plants described in 1919