Fukien Tea: A More Subtle Show

     Fukien tea (Ehretia microphylla) is another species that bears tiny, pure-white flowers. (To my lovely wife's great enjoyment.) The flowers are followed by berries a little smaller than a garden pea, that ripen to a rich red.

Neither the flowers nor the ripe berries last very long, so at any given time when the tree is bearing, what you're most likely to see are a lot of green berries with flowers and ripe berries interspersed. This makes for a subtler, less exuberant show than that of a serissa (especially a 'Snow Rose' serissa,) but still a show that is quite satisfying and enjoyable in its own right. The deep, rich green of the leaves makes a great backdrop, and is something I enjoy for itself.

Blooms, and berries both green and ripe. The white "hairs" on the leaves (trichomes) trap moisture in the air.

Typical sight: plenty of green berries, and deep-green leaves.

As received in August 2010.

I bought this tree in August 2010 from Wigert's Bonsai in Florida. (Click here for their website.) In the next year-and-some I spent time studying it and letting it adapt to my locale. At the beginning of November 2011, I repotted it into a cut-down 1-gal.-size Rootmaker ®. At that time, I found the nebari and leveled it, which resulted in a new planting angle and new provisional front. (Yes, it was late in the season, but the tree went straight into the Bonsai Crate in the
basement afterward.)

As of February 1, 2012.

The new planting angle also cleared up the question of just what style will suit this tree best. There were several possible designs that would have fit the old orientation at least fairly well, and it was hard to see which one might be the best choice. But with the new position, no doubt remains: this tree wants to be a semi-cascade! The first branch on the viewer's left needs only moderate shaping to become the cascading branch. The two branches below that one on the trunk (only one shows in the last picture) will be left for a few years to bulk up the lower trunk, then removed or jinned.

The leaves of Ehretia species are used for medicinal teas in southeast Asia. The fruit is technically a drupe, as is a peach or cherry. Each contains a single hard seed. Apparently Fukien tea is self-pollinating, because the seeds from mine have produced a number of seedlings. (Not that I'm complaining!) I expect to use some of them for a forest planting in a year or two.

Fukien tea, unlike serissa, is a true tropical/subtropical species. Mine reminded me of that rather sharply after I took its picture on February 1st. The temperature was a few degrees above freezing, and our side yard, where the picture was taken, is very well sheltered from wind. Nevertheless, over half the leaves blackened and fell over the next few days! They have been replaced, and the tree is producing more blooms and berries, and shows no signs of permanent injury. But now I know not to expose it to that much cold.