About

Poliothyrsis is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the willow family Salicaceae (although placed formerly in the now defunct family Flacourtiaceae (within which it is usually to be found listed in older works of reference)). The single arborescent species is Poliothyrsis sinensis, Chinese common name: 山拐枣 shān guǎi zǎo English common name: Chinese pearl-bloom tree

Safety

In the year 1969, pioneering French chemotaxonomist Victor Plouvier published a paper in which he recorded his isolation of a new crystalline glycoside from P. sinensis, which he had duly named poliothyrsoside. However, only a year later, in 1970, H. Thieme published another scientific paper in which he demonstrated that poliothyrsoside was in fact chemically identical to the glycoside nigracin, first isolated and characterised from the bark and leaves of Populus nigra, the black poplar, by himself and his colleague R. Benecke in 1967.

A Japanese investigation of 2014 noted the presence of three compounds of interest in the plant: 3-(6-O-Benzoyl-β-D-glucopyranosyloxy)-5-hydroxycinnamic acid methyl ester, Flacourtoside A and Homaloside.

Where it grows

Its native range is North-Central, South-Central, and Southeast China, where temperate climates of various subtypes prevail (Köppen climate classification group C).

Uses

Profuse in its production of fragrant flowers, the tree is valued as a nectar plant in its native China. The wood is fine-grained and of good quality and is used in China in the making of furniture and the carving of various utensils.