Schisandra chinensis
| Five-flavor berry (Schisandra chinensis) | |
|---|---|
| |
| Common names | Five-flavor berry, schisandra, magnolia berry, Chinese magnolia vine, omija |
| Scientific name | Schisandra chinensis |
| Family | Schisandraceae |
| Genus | Schisandra |
| Order | Austrobaileyales |
| Native range | Russian Far East to northern and central China, Korea, Japan and adjacent regions |
| Growth habit | Twining deciduous woody climber without tendrils, reaching about 14–15 m where supported |
| Fruit | Clusters of pinkish-red to red fleshy berries about 5–10 mm on an elongate stalk |
| Pollination | Separate male and female plants, or a self-fertile selection; insect-pollinated |
| Years to fruit | About 4–5 years from seed |
| Harvest season | Late summer to early autumn (August–September in North America) |
| Uses | Fresh or dried berries; tea, juice and preserves; traditional medicine |
Schisandra chinensis, the five-flavor berry or schisandra (also called magnolia berry and Chinese magnolia vine; omija in Korean), is a twining, deciduous woody climber of the family Schisandraceae. [1] The name was first published in 1868 and is the accepted one today; former names including Kadsura chinensis, Maximowiczia chinensis, Maximowiczia amurensis and Sphaerostema japonicum are synonyms. [1] The native range runs from the Russian Far East (Amur, Khabarovsk, Primorye, Sakhalin) through Manchuria, northern and central China, Inner Mongolia, Korea and Japan, where the vine grows in ravines, on slopes and along rivers at 1200–1700 m. [1][2] A fruiting and medicinal plant of long East Asian use, it has been grown commercially in northeast China since the 1980s, and omija is a commercial crop in South Korea. [4][7]
Description[edit | edit source]
The vine climbs by twining and has no tendrils or adhesive pads, so it wraps around a support as it grows. [8] In the botanical-garden collection in Chișinău, Moldova, established vines reached 14–15 m under favourable conditions. [3] Leaves are alternate, elliptic to obovate, 4.5–8(–10.5) × 2.5–6.5 cm, with denticulate to serrulate margins on petioles 0.9–4 cm long; the Moldovan description gives ovate blades 5–10 cm with a reddish petiole. [2][3]
Flowers are axillary and solitary, with 5–9 white to yellow tepals, the largest 6.5–11 × 2–5 mm. [2] The flowers are unisexual: staminate flowers carry (4 or) 5(–7) nearly distinct stamens, and pistillate flowers carry 14–40 carpels. [2] The fruit is the whole hanging cluster: a fruiting stalk 2–7.5 cm long bears an elongate torus up to 9.5 cm crowded with 14–40 small fleshy berries. [2] Flora of China gives the individual apocarps as pinkish-red to red, 5–7.5 × 4–6 mm, with smooth seeds; the Moldovan account describes spherical, intensely red, juicy, sour berries 5–10 mm across, usually with one seed. [2][3] The Korean name omija, "five flavour", comes from the sour, sweet, spicy, bitter and salty notes found together in the fruit. [4] The chromosome count is 2n = 28. [2]
Cultivation[edit | edit source]
Soil and water[edit | edit source]
Native stations are ravine, slope and riverside woodland on rich, moist soil. [2] In cultivation the vine wants rich, loose, humus-rich soil that holds moisture, with a shallow root system reaching only about 25 cm deep; both this Moldovan account and later practice converge on keeping the root zone cool and damp. [3] Drought and high summer temperatures are tolerated poorly during growth, so irrigation and mulching are the main cultural tools in warm climates. [3] Commercial guidance recommends a slightly acidic to neutral pH around 5.5–6.8, rich and moist but well-drained soil, and warns against compacted or waterlogged ground. [5]
Sun and humidity[edit | edit source]
The species is a shade-tolerant forest plant: the Moldovan collection grew poorly in full sun, and the native Chinese stations are ravine and riverside woods. [3][2] Commercial practice places it in partial shade to full sun, with afternoon shade recommended where summers are hot; cool, humid, forest-like conditions suit it best. [5] A container grower in the Pacific Northwest describes the vine as hating dryness and loving shade, with its largest crop produced in deep shade once regular irrigation was added. [11]
Seasonal changes[edit | edit source]
Flowering in the Chinese flora runs May–July with fruiting July–September; in Moldova the collection flowered May–June over 15–19 days. [2][3] The vine is deciduous and needs winter chill. [5] Young plants are the vulnerable stage: two- to three-year-old seedlings in Moldova required winter protection, while established vines withstood severe frost, with the collection described as frost resistant to about −45 °C. [3] Hardiness claims are observational rather than universal: commercial sources rate the vine for USDA zones 4–7, with afternoon shade recommended in the hotter part of that range. [5] Established plants produce well in full sun in northern climates and prefer part shade toward the south, and container plants on balconies lose the thermal mass of the ground, so wintering pots at ground level is safer where winters are severe. [11]
In a Korean field trial, powdery mildew (Microsphaera sp.) and anthracnose (Colletotrichum gloeosporioides) were the main foliage diseases rated at the midsummer bloom peak. [4]
Propagation[edit | edit source]
Seed is the ordinary route, and it needs a cyclic rather than a single chilling treatment. The Moldovan trials used three-phase stratification — about 30 days at 18–20 °C, then 30 days at 3–5 °C, then about 60 days at 8–10 °C — before spring sowing, giving 80–90% germination; about 1000 seeds weigh 25 g. [3] Ukrainian seed work at the M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden found spring sowing of stratified seed (about 65% germination) and autumn sowing of freshly harvested seed (about 63%) both effective, and that dark storage at about +4 °C limited oxidative loss and preserved germination, whereas ten months of storage measurably reduced seed fats and proteins. [6] Seedlings of this woody vine are slow: seed-grown plants begin to fruit at about 4–5 years. [3]
Because seedlings can lose or change maternal traits, vegetative propagation is the way to keep a named selection. [3] Semi-hardwood and hardwood cuttings taken in late June to early July from young plants (12–15 cm, 2–3 nodes) rooted well in sand or a 1:1 sand–peat mix under at least 24% mist after treatment with 0.005% IBA for 16 hours or 0.01% IAA for 5 hours; hardwood cuttings taken in February–March were held in sand or sawdust until frost danger passed. [3] Layering and division are also used. [3] Results conflict across conditions, which a grower should expect: a Chinese micropropagation study states that conventional cuttings fail to form adventitious roots and therefore develops a somatic-embryogenesis route, with about 90% of regenerated plantlets surviving hardening. [7] Practical grower reports add that root pieces can sprout: root cuttings of 'Eastern Prince' produced shoots within about eight days in one trial, and air-layering is discussed as a reliable technique. [9][8]
Flowering, fruiting, and harvest[edit | edit source]
Sex expression is not uniform. The species is usually described as dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants, and nurseries generally sell it that way; the Moldovan collection, however, was recorded as monoecious with unisexual flowers, and field observations in northeast China link heavier shade with a lower female-flower ratio and older vines with more flowers and a higher female ratio. [3][4] Flowers are insect-pollinated; bees, beetles and small moths are the visitors most often listed. [4][5]
Harvest in North America falls in late summer to early autumn: growers report picking from mid-August into early September. [10][5] Berries are ready when fully red and release easily from the stalk; ripeness is not uniform across a cluster, and a single bunch can hold both sour and over-ripe berries. [5][10] Yields vary enormously between seedling vines: total bunch weight ranged from 109 g to 5844 g per plant among 96 wild accessions evaluated in South Korea, alongside wide variation in fruit number and lignan content. [4] Commercial guidance puts first fruit about 3 years after planting with full production by years 5–6. [5]
Fruit and uses[edit | edit source]
The fruit is sour, juicy and intensely aromatic, with the five notes of the Korean name omija — sour, sweet, spicy, bitter and salty — combining in each berry. [4][5] Berries are eaten fresh but are more often dried, and the classic preparations are drying followed by tea; dried berries are also sweetened for juice and preserves. [5][10] Growers report drying the fruit about a week after harvest and brewing it into tea. [10] In East Asian tradition the fruit is a food and the plant a medicine, with the fruit and seed the parts most often used; traditional use does not by itself establish modern medical effects. [2][3][4]
Cultivars and selections[edit | edit source]
'Eastern Prince' is the self-fertile selection most growers use. Commercial accounts describe it as a selected form with hermaphroditic flowers, so a single vine sets fruit, and growers regularly report fruiting it alone; planting a second, genetically distinct vine is still advised to improve set. [5][8][10] It is a moderate vine rated for zones 4–7, slow through its first year and vigorous after establishment, and, without tendrils, needs tying and support while it twines. [5][8] The name is also applied in commerce to seedlings that may be single-sex, so a clone's self-fertility should be confirmed at purchase rather than assumed. [5]
'Sadovyi-1' (also written 'Sadovy 1') is a Ukrainian selection documented in seed-biology research at the Gryshko garden, where its locally produced seed carried about 10% embryo-less seeds versus 30–90% for seed of natural origin; its fruit attributes are not described in the retrieved studies. [6][4] 'Chungsun' is reported as a South Korean selected variety in a 2004 breeding report cited by the 2023 germplasm study; the original breeding record was not examined. [4]
Photos[edit | edit source]
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References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ [3] Ciorchină, N.; Onica, E.; Roşca, I.; Dumitraş, A.; Clapă, D.; Fira, A. (2011). The biology of the propagation of species Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill. Journal of Plant Development 18: 17–26.
- ↑ [4] Kim, B.S.; Kim, J.S.; Seo, Y.J.; Oh, T.Y.; Lee, J.-D. (2023). Characteristics of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baillon Collected in Habitats of South Korea. Agriculture 13(6): 1256.
- ↑ [6] Seed productivity and reproduction features of Schisandra chinensis under conditions of the M. M. Gryshko National Botanical Garden — Plant Introduction.
- ↑ [7] Chen, A.H.; Yang, J.L.; Niu, Y.D.; Yang, C.P.; Liu, G.F.; Yu, C.Y.; Li, C.H. (2010). High-frequency somatic embryogenesis from germinated zygotic embryos of Schisandra chinensis. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture 102: 357–364.
- ↑ [9] How to propagate Schisandra chinensis 'Eastern Prince' vine by root cuttings? (Growing Fruit forum thread 29024).
- ↑ [10] What's Happening in the Fall of 2017 — schisandra harvest report by Drew51 (Growing Fruit forum thread 12442).
Image credits[edit | edit source]
- File:Schisandra chinensis 2018-07-09 4731.jpg — Whole plant of Schisandra chinensis at the UMCS Botanical Garden, Lublin, Poland (summary image). Creator: Salicyna (Wikimedia Commons user), CC BY-SA 4.0 (license). File page: Wikimedia Commons. Attribution: Salicyna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- File:Schisandra chinensis Cytryniec chiński 2024-04-13 01.jpg — Schisandra chinensis flowers. Creator: Agnieszka Kwiecień, Nova (Wikimedia Commons user), CC BY-SA 4.0 (license). File page: Wikimedia Commons. Attribution: Agnieszka Kwiecień (Nova), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
- File:Schisandra chinensis (17968236469).jpg — Schisandra chinensis. Creator: peganum (Flickr user, Small Dole, England), CC BY-SA 2.0 (license). File page: Wikimedia Commons. Attribution: peganum, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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- File:Schisandra chinensis b.JPG — Stem of Schisandra chinensis. Creator: Кордюков Александр (Aleksandr Kordyukov), CC0 1.0 (license). File page: Wikimedia Commons. Attribution: Кордюков Александр, CC0 1.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
