Antidesma pentandrum
The five-stamens China laurel is a native plant of Taiwan, with a narrow distribution in Taiwan, mainly found in the south, east and Orchid Island. It is not rare in the wild, but not common either. It is now widely planted in parks and green spaces at low altitudes throughout the island, and the museum has cultivated it as a hedge around the Botanical Garden.
The five-stamens China laurel is evergreen throughout the year, and the fruits of the same tree do not all ripen at the same time. The sight of dark green, shiny leaves interspersed with multicolored fruits is the most impressive sight of the five-stamens China laurel. The fruits are green when they are young, then turn yellow and red, and purple when ripe. You can often see different colors of green, yellow, red and purple on the same bunch of fruits. It is not easy for the birds to eat them all at once.
The five-stamens China laurel prefer strong light environment, have strong resistance to pests, diseases and air pollution. These characteristics with varied fruit colors and thick green bushes make it quite suitable as a landscape tree. However, you may not see the beautiful fruits just because you planted a five-stamens China laurel. It is a dioecious plant, which means its plants are divided into male and female, and it is difficult to distinguish which one is the male plant that only blooms and which one is the female that produces fruits before the flowers bloom. Although the small greenish-white flowers are not large, it is not difficult to distinguish between male and female when they bloom. The male flowers are smaller, with four petals, four calyxes and four stamens arranged in a raceme. Female flowers are larger in spike, with a 3-lobed stigma.