In the author’s opinion this is the most dramatically beautiful tree that has been introduced from the wild to cultivation in the last 40 years.
Melliodendron xylocarpum is a member of the Styracaceae family and closely related to Styrax and Halesia. It grows in Southern China and Northern Vietnam in forest ravines of fairly low altitudes but has proved extremely hardy with us.
It is a very quick growing deciduous tree. The best example, and probably the earliest introduction into the UK in the mid 1990’s, grows at Tregrehan Gardens near St Austell where the original tree is already 30-40 feet tall.
What makes it such an attractive spectacle, and so desired by woodland gardeners, are its pendulous star shaped leaves (6cm across) which (at Tregrehan) are white with conspicuous pink veining. (Elsewhere on other trees the flowers are said to be white or pink but usually a mix of the two colours). In March or April, standing under the erect tree and looking up at the profusion of star shaped flowers one can only wonder at the beauty of nature in this remarkable species.
Melliodendron do produce large oblong seed capsules which ripen in mid-autumn. These need some scarring or scarification to germinate and we have had erratic and largely unsuccessful results. Tom Hudson, the owner of Tregrehan, collected seed originally in the wild from a rock crevice since rats and pigs had devoured the rest of the crop.
The plants which Burncoose offers have usually been grafted onto a rootstock of Halesia. In trying to grow this plant in our own gardens we have found that the Halesia rootstock needs careful control to prevent new side shoots overtaking the graft. Our plants have taken time to establish and get going probably because we did not think carefully enough about location. Meliodendron need to have their roots in damp shade at all times where the soil does not dry out. Dappled shade rather than full sun. It is essential to plant this tree where it has a clear route to the light in years to come and somewhere that you can really admire the flowers from below. At Tregrehan their original plant is on a steep east facing slope.
The bark of Melliodendron trees is an attractive greenish brown with irregular peeling in maturity. At Tregrehan the younger branches has proved attractive to squirrels.
