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Vernicia montana
Also called Cantonese Wood Oil Tree, Chinese Tung Oil Tree, Chinese Wood Oil Tree, Abrasin Oil Tree, Wood Oil Tree
Vernicia montana is a medium-sized deciduous tree in the spurge family, grown mainly for its oil-rich seeds used in wood varnish. It needs warm, frost-free conditions and well-drained, sandy soil.
Vernicia montana is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common name mu oil tree, or chine wood oil tree.
Vernicia montana is grown mostly for the seeds from which a varnish is made similar to the tung tree. The oil is prized as a wood finish. As the tree prefers well drained, sandy soils, the trees are grown on hillside plantations in northern Vietnam. In nature, V montana can be found at the margins of primary forests.
The wood is also harvested.
It is native to Cambodia, South-Central and Southern China, Hainan, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Vernicia montana 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.
