The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Hovenia acerba is a deciduous tree from China and the Himalayas, grown mainly for its timber, shade and fruit stalks. It is best grown in temperate climates with full sun and well-drained soil.
Hovenia acerba is a species of flowering plant in the raisin tree genus Hovenia (family Rhamnaceae), native to temperate areas of Nepal, the eastern Himalayas, Assam, Myanmar, northern Thailand, Tibet, and central and southern China. A tree reaching 25 m (82 ft), it is found at elevations up to 2,100 m (6,900 ft), in wooded and open areas, forest edges, and slopes, and it is frequently cultivated locally.
Like Hovenia dulcis it is a source of a fine hard timber, and the sweet fruit rachis is edible and is used to make a fruit wine. The seeds are used in traditional medicine. One can distinguish Hovenia acerba by its fruits, which are yellow or brownish at maturity, whereas those of H. dulcis are black. It is widely used as a street tree in southern Chinese cities.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hovenia acerba by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
