mock buckthorn

Survives zone 8 through 9

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Small sweet drupes; leaves used for tea. Care: Winter protection;* tender evergreen.

Hardiness

Zone 8–9

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Leaf, Fruit

Ripens

September

Mature size

Shrub 1–3 m; often grown as bonsai

Light

Full sun to partial

Soil pH

6.0–7.5 (adaptable)

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Southern China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan and into India and south-east Asia — dry hillsides, scrub and rocky ground. Widely known in the West only as a bonsai subject.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–4 yrs to flower, then 3–6 more to ripen

Growth speed

Moderate to fast, and it responds to hard cutting — the reason it is a bonsai standard

Spacing

150 cm (59 in) apart — about 2.3 m² (24 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Small, evergreen to semi-evergreen, ovate 1–4 cm, glossy and finely toothed, in near-opposite pairs on spiny, zig-zagging twigs. New growth flushes bronze-pink.

Root system

Shallow, dense and fibrous, tolerant of drought and of the severe root pruning bonsai culture involves — an unusually forgiving root system.

Fruit description

Small purple-black drupes 4–5 mm ripening in autumn, sweet and pleasant but slight — a nibbling fruit. The young leaves are dried and brewed as a tea in southern China, which is where the name 'sweet tea' comes from.

Propagation

Semi-hardwood cuttings root easily; layering works; seed is straightforward after cleaning. Nothing about this plant is difficult to propagate.

Pollination

Self-fertile — flowers are hermaphrodite

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.