Common Names: Happiness Tree/Philippine Fortune Tree/Fukugi Tree (English), フクギ (Japanese), 福木/菲島福木 (Chinese)
Scientific Name: Garcinia subelliptica Merr. [1]
Family: Clusiaceae [1]
Natural Distribution: Japan’s Ryukyu Islands (some say they were introduced by the early Ryukyuans), Taiwan (Green Island, Orchid Island and possibly Hengchun Peninsula) and Philippines (Babuyan Islands, Luzon). [2, 3]
Natural Habitat: Lowland tropical and subtropical rainforest or coastal rainforests
Description: Evergreen tree that usually grows to around 10-15 m max. Long, smooth, elliptical, opposite leaves are around 10-15 cm long and 5-8 cm wide. [4, 5]
Flower: Monoecious, but sometimes dioecious too. Numerous flowers when blooming. Flowers are small and have white (pale greenish yellow) petals, around 1cm in diameter. Flowering occurs around April-May.
Fruits: The ripe fruit is yellow and has a pungent smell. Fruit is reportedly edible. Each fruit usually has 2-3 seeds within but can hold up to 5. Fruit is around 3-5 cm in diameter. [3, 4] Fruiting occurs in summer around July-August.
Seeds: Seeds are recalcitrant [3]. General rule is that most Garcinia species have recalcitrant seeds and they may take several weeks to germinate (even if temperatures are cool but still moist). The roundish elliptical seed grows to roughly 4 cm wide.
Fukugi trees are mostly used as ornamental trees and are common street trees in Taiwan. [5, 6] Fukugi trees are quite resistant to strong winds. The tree sap is yellowish. They grow relatively slowly.
I remember when I was young, my mother told me that this tree is poisonous. This is totally not true at all. The fruit is actually edible but you will need immense courage to approach the fruit to begin with. The fruit when ripen will exude a sulfurous, gasoline-like smell. Although I have never tried it, apparently it taste just like any other Garcinia fruits.
It was in January 2018 – I did not expect that there would be Fukugi fruiting. I then collected one fruit. This one fruit had two seeds in it.
As Yang et al have investigated, although Fukugi’s exhibit tropical recalcitrant seed storage behaviour (therefore cannot survive any form of desiccation and low temperatures), the seeds can be “temporarily” stored by maintaining moisture, air circulation and a temperature of 15°C/59°F. [3] This is probably just a way to prolong the germination process, which then make it seem like a form of “storage”, surviving the seed to when temperatures are warm enough so that it then can germinate. As I know that this seed was recalcitrant, I had to sow them immediately.
I left the city for around 3 months and came back in May the same year finding that the seeds have germinated as shown in above image.
With the rest of year being hot and humid, the seedlings grew faster and faster, reaching more than 15 cm by the end of the year as shown below.
The next year the plants experienced some leaf shedding until only a few leaves remained on the stem. I’m not sure if this was supposed to happen. Both still survived till today. From my own experience, they are somewhat tolerant of periods of dryness (not watering), water-logging (when I accidentally flooded them) and relatively cold temperatures (around 10°C/50°F).
The roots of this species is pretty deep and grows directly out of the pot. I should be getting the plants some new, bigger and deeper pots. Unfortunately I am unsure where I can get deeper ultra-flexible plastic pots. Will be looking for those and repotting them to see how their roots grow.
Overall this species is quite resilient to a lot of stresses and do not helicopter owners for them to survive. They seem to do fine themselves as long as adequate water has been provided and the medium is deep enough for them to expand.
REFERENCES
- http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-2817190
- http://raywang1016.pixnet.net/blog/post/320756105
- Yang, J.-C & Kuo, S.-R & Lee, C.-M. (2010). Germination and storage behavior of seeds of Garcinia subelliptica (Guttiferae), Drypetes littoralis (Euphorbiaceae), and Premna serratifolia (Verbenaceae). 25. 339-352.
https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20113027781 - http://kplant.biodiv.tw/%E7%A6%8F%E6%9C%A8/%E7%A6%8F%E6%9C%A8.htm
- https://www.nparks.gov.sg/florafaunaweb/flora/2/9/2930
- Inoue, T., Kainuma, M., Baba, K., Oshiro, N., Kimura, N., & Chan, E. (2017). Garcinia subelliptica (Fukugi): A Multi-purpose Coastal Tree with Promising Medicinal Properties. Journal of Intercultural Ethnopharmacology, 6(1), 121. https://doi.org/10.5455/jice.20161229060034
RAINFOREST WISH 