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Schisandra chinensis
Also called Five Flavor Fruit, Magnolia Vine, Schisandra, Five Flavor Magnolia Vine, Five Flavour Berry
Schisandra chinensis is a woody climbing vine from forests of northern China, Korea, Japan and the Russian Far East, grown for its clusters of red berries. It needs a sturdy support and both male and female plants (or a self-fertile cultivar) to set fruit.
Schisandra chinensis, whose fruit is called schisandra, magnolia berry or five-flavor fruit, is a vine plant native to forests of Northern China, the Russian Far East, Korea, and Japan. It is hardy in USDA Zones 4-8. The fruits are red berries in dense clusters around 10 centimetres (3.9 in) long.
Schisandra is native to northern and northeastern China (Manchuria). Major cultivation of Schisandra is located in Korea and China. The production however declined continuously due to the increased deforestation in Asia. Schisandra can be integrated in agroforestry farming systems as it climbs up trees to get better light conditions. On a large-scale production Schisandra plants are grown similar to grape vines and are tied up on stakes in vertical columns. Therefore, cultivation requirements are thought to be similar to those of grapes.
The species itself is dioecious, requiring flowers of a female plant to be fertilized with pollen from a male plant. A hybrid selection titled 'Eastern Prince' has flowers and is self-fertile (monoecious). Seedlings of 'Eastern Prince' are sometimes sold under the same name, but are typically single-sex plants. Another monoecious cultivar mainly planted in China is "Hong-zhen-zhu". This cultivar is next to "Bai Wu-wei-zi", "Chang-bai-hong", and "Da-chuan-hong" one of the main cultivars in China used for germplasm resources.
Its berries are used in traditional medicine. Chemical constituents include the lignans schisandrin, deoxyschizandrin, gomisins, and pregomisin. When crushed, the leaves release a lemony smell and can be used as a vegetable.
Schisandra grandiflora · Schisandra rubriflora · Schisandra sphaerandra · Lemonwood · Magnolia Vine
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Schisandra chinensis 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.
