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Premna microphylla
Also called Japanese Musk Maple
Premna microphylla is a small tree or large shrub in the mint family, native to southern China, Japan and Taiwan, grown mainly for its ornamental form and fragrant leaves. It is best given a slightly acidic, woodland-edge style setting with some shade and steady moisture.
Premna microphylla is a tree in the mint family (Lamiaceae).
The plant is found in southern China, central and southern Japan, and Taiwan. The type specimen was collected by Scottish botanist and plant hunter Robert Fortune in China. It prefers growing in slightly acidic to acidic soil mainly on woodland edges or understory at an altitude of 500–1,000 metres (1,600–3,300 ft) in elevation.
P. microphylla is used for food. The leaves can be used to make a pectin-rich gel that is something like tofu. The jelly is similar to grass jelly but it not usually called that, unlike other grass jelly plants. This green gel is called 神仙豆腐 (shénxiān dòufu, immortal/divine tofu) or 觀音豆腐 (Guānyīn dòufu, Guanyin tofu). In English it is sometimes called green leaf tofu. A similar 'fairy tofu' is made from the leaves of Premna puberula. The leaves are high in protein (13.48%), and while not as much as soybeans, it is high for a leaf vegetable and ranks closer to cereal grains like hard wheat (12.6%) rather than spinach (2.9%). To make the 'tofu', the leaves are washed and crushed with some water to facilitate grinding. Culinary ash is added to the strained mixture and it is allowed to set. Some cooks burn specific wood for the ash, such as Osmanthus. The dish is considered a refreshing summer treat. Production is small and local, and not done on an industrial scale.
Fragrant premna · Premna parasitica · Premna puberula · Bastard Guelder
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Premna microphylla 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.
