''Edgeworthia chrysantha'' (

common name In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of everyday life; and is often contrast ...

s: Oriental paperbush, mitsumata) is a plant in the family

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Website, St. Louis. It ...

Etymology

The genus was named in honour of

Michael Pakenham Edgeworth Michael Pakenham Edgeworth (24 May 1812 – 30 July 1881) was an Irish botanist who specialized in seed plants and ferns, and spent most of his life working in India. He was also a pioneer of photography. Early life and family relations Edge ...

(1812–1881), an Irish-born

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

amateur botanist, who worked for the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

, and for his sister, writer

Maria Edgeworth Maria Edgeworth (1 January 1768 – 22 May 1849) was a prolific Anglo-Irish novelist of adults' and children's literature. She was one of the first realist writers in children's literature and was a significant figure in the evolution of the n ...

. The Latin specific epithet ''chrysantha'' is in reference to the plant's yellow flowers.

Description

''Edgeworthia chrysantha'' is a deciduous shrub with dark green, leathery, single, alternate,

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular o ...

leaves, long. It can reach a height of . Flowers are yellow, have a sweet scent, and in clusters at the branch tips. The flowering period extends from February to April.

Distribution and habitat

This species is native to Myanmar and south-central and southeast China. It grows in forests and shrubby slopes.

Use

The bark fibres of these plants are used for making the handmade

Japanese tissue Japanese tissue is a thin, strong paper made from vegetable fibers. Japanese tissue may be made from one of three plants, the ''kōzo'' plant (''Broussonetia papyrifera'', paper mulberry tree), the mitsumata (''Edgeworthia chrysantha'') shrub ...

called "mitsumata paper". Along with ''kōzo'' and

gampi Gampi or Ganpi are a group of Japanese shrubs, members of the genus ''Wikstroemia'', some of which have been used for making paper since the 8th century. It is used to make the high quality washi paper, as are kōzo and mitsumata trees. Variou ...

, it is used for making traditional Japanese paper (

washi is traditional Japanese paper. The term is used to describe paper that uses local fiber, processed by hand and made in the traditional manner. ''Washi'' is made using fibers from the inner bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub (''Ed ...

). Among other applications, mitsumata is used for banknotes as the paper is very durable. In China flowers, roots, and bark are used in traditional medicine.

Gallery

File:Edgeworthiachrysantha.JPG, ''Edgeworthia chrysantha'' in flower, Imperial Palace gardens,

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

File:Edgeworthia chrysantha 01.JPG, Close-up on flowers of ''Edgeworthia chrysantha'', in

Donglin Temple (Jiangxi) Donglin Temple () is a Buddhist monastery approximately from Jiujiang, in the north of Jiangxi province, China. Built in 386 CE at the foot of Mountain Lu by Huiyuan, founder of the Pure Land Sect of Buddhism, it is well known for how long it ...

Jiujiang Jiujiang (), formerly transliterated Kiukiang or Kew Keang, is a prefecture-level city located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River in northwest Jiangxi Province, People's Republic of China. It is the second-largest prefecture-level city ...

, China File:Paper Bush Edgworthia chrysantha Plant 3008px.jpg , Leaves of' ''Edgeworthia chrysantha'' File:Edgeworthia chrysantha var. grandiflora family Thymelaceae young bark.jpg, Attractive young bark of Edgeworthia chrysantha var. grandiflora

References

External links

Plants for a futureWorldpress
Thymelaeoideae Flora of China Flora of Japan {{Thymelaeaceae-stub