Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Ahead of Print
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • All Issues
  • Contribute
    • Submit to AUF
    • Author Guidelines
    • Reviewer Guidelines
  • About
    • Overview
    • Editorial Board
    • Journal Metrics
    • International Society of Arboriculture
  • More
    • Contact
    • Feedback
  • Alerts

User menu

  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
  • Log in
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Ahead of Print
    • Current Issue
    • Special Issues
    • All Issues
  • Contribute
    • Submit to AUF
    • Author Guidelines
    • Reviewer Guidelines
  • About
    • Overview
    • Editorial Board
    • Journal Metrics
    • International Society of Arboriculture
  • More
    • Contact
    • Feedback
  • Alerts
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Research ArticleArticles

Eucommia ulmoides: A Tree For Urban Areas

Philip A. Barker
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) August 1984, 10 (8) 233-235; DOI: https://doi.org/10.48044/jauf.1984.049
Philip A. Barker
Research Horticulturist, USDA Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Berkeley, CA 94701
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. (Family Eucommiaceae), with its numerous attributes, frequently has been recommended for general use in urban areas (6,8,9). In overall form and leaf character, the species resembles American elm. Mature trees attain heights up to about 60 ft, have wide-spreading branches, and leaves that are glossy green. Although lacking in fall color, the leaves have the desirable characteristic of dropping fairly fast and, therefore, compared with other species of trees, the cleanup period is short. The flowers are inconspicuous and the fruit are compressed winged nutlets, much like those of the elm. But, despite these favorable traits, trees of this species are seldom seen.

The purpose of this article is to summarize various trial plantings and the propagation of this dioecious, deciduous tree from central China. The chemical properties of the species are described including the nature of a substance in the leaves that mistakenly has been called rubber. With this additional information, anyone considering growing or using this species in the landscape may better appreciate its attributes and its probable geographic range of adaptability. Even so, until the species has been grown in a wide range of environments, its adaptability must continue to be speculative.

Trial Plantings

Listen

Thirty-four trees were planted in 6-ft treelawns along Liberty Street, in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1952 (Fig. 1). The trees had been grown from seed received from Indianapolis, Indiana, but the origin of the seed is unknown (pers. comm. John Michalko). Currently, these trees are about 14 inches dbh and from 25 to 30 ft tall. No problem has been encountered with insect pests or with limbs that droop and interfere with traffic, unlike many species of trees used in urban areas. The trees have needed little maintenance. Unusually cold temperatures of about –20°F in the city in the winters of 1977 and 1978 resulted in slight dieback in the crowns of the trees but this dieback was subsequently obscured by new growth. Winds up to 50 miles per hour at the time caused little limb breakage in the trees (pers. comm. William Killmer).

Fig. 1.
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
  • Download powerpoint
Fig. 1.

Chinese threadtrees (Eucommia ulmoides) along Liberty Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio. Planted in 1952, the trees were photographed by William Killmer in 1974.

In fall, 1982, the city of Cleveland planted about 60 new trees that had been grown from seed collected from the Liberty Street trees. The trees were planted in narrow treelawns along a street on which salt to melt snow is applied each winter, in an industrial area where the air contains particulates originating from nearby steel mills. The possible adverse effect of these substances on survival and growth of the trees is being studied.

Trees planted at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center at Wooster, Ohio, have varied in performance. Generally, they have grown quite satisfactorily, except for some small ones in the shade tree evaluation plots that were killed at temperatures of   –20°F.   These and some small trees at Indianapolis, Indiana, earlier had sustained moderate storm damage.   The species appears to be adaptable to soils ranging well above pH 7.0, but is intolerant of fine-textured soils with poor drainage (pers. comm. Davis Sydnor).

In 1972, five trees were planted by the author in a canyon campground east of Logan in northeastern Utah. Winter temperatures there regularly go to   –20°F or lower. Only two trees survived and they are no bigger now than when planted because of winter-kill of the new shoots each year.

Propagation

Listen

Propagation of Eucommia ulmoides has been no problem. Lake County Nursery Exchange, Perry, Ohio, has seed-propagated trees in general production, with quantity sale of caliper-size stock scheduled for 1985. Sexually propagated trees also are in production at Saratoga Horticultural Foundation, Saratoga, California. Softwood cuttings taken in mid-June from a mature tree in Illinois were successfully rooted (8). The benefits of root-promoting chemicals for this purpose were reviewed at a meeting of plant propagators (11).

Chemical Properties

Listen

Foote (5) described how World War I interrupted sources of supply of tu-chung bark from Eucommia ulmoides trees, the source of an unidentified “valued tonic medicine.” The article pictured a man in Yungyang Hsien, China, shouldering a wooden pole with a large bundle of this bark hanging from each end.

When a leaf of Eucommia ulmoides is broken and the pieces separated, delicate, silvery threads form between them. These threads consist of a substance that is an isomer of the hydrocarbons of rubber (7), known as gutta (2). Present in the latex of Eucommia, some Euonymous species, and several species of Malaysian trees, gutta differs from rubber in that it is plastic and not elastic. It dissolves in ether, carbon disulfide, and chloroform about twice as fast as crude rubber (10). Before dissolving, crude rubber swells greatly but retains it original proportional shape, whereas the substance from Eucommia ulmoides only softens and flattens out on the bottom of the container. Commercial Eucommia plantations, apparently for gutta production, have existed in Russia since intensive vegetative propagation of original source male plants began about 1931 (4).

Common Name

Listen

The mistaken identity of the gutta in Eucommia ulmoides and the species’ hardiness in temperate environments have resulted in the species being called, “hardy rubber tree.” For accuracy, it could be called “hardy gutta tree” or   “gutta-percha tree,” a name of long standing in Russia (12). This latter name, together with the species’ country of origin, is the basis of another common name, “Chinese Rukkis Tree” (1). The common name for this tree in China is “tu chung” (3), a name incapable of precise Engish translation. Use of the name, “Chinese treadtree,” in reference to the country of origin and to the threads that connect separated leaf parts, may increase public interest in this intriguing species. The numerous attributes of Eucommia ulmoides or Chinese threadtree contradict its relative scarcity in the United States.

  • © 1984, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.

Literature Cited

Listen
  1. 1.↵
    1. Andreev, V.N.
    1931. Eukommiya-kitasiskoe gutta-perchevoe derevo na Ukraine i na Kavkaze (Eucommia — the “Chinese-Rukkis” Tree in the Ukraine and Caucasus). Izdanie Ukrainskogo. NIIK i G., Kiev. (Cited in Dzhaparidze 1963).
  2. 2.↵
    1. Bonner, J.F.
    1950. Plant Biochemistry. New York, Academic Press. 537 p.
  3. 3.↵
    Chinese Botanical Research Institute (ed.). 1972. Jung-quo Gao-deng Jih-wu Tu-jian (An Illustrated Compendium of the Higher Plants of China.) 5 vols. Beijing Science Publishers, Beijing, China.
  4. 4.↵
    1. Dzhaparidze, L.I
    . 1963. Sex in plants, Part 1. Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR. Institute of Botany. (Translated from Russian for National Sciences Foundation, 1967; available from Clearinghouse for Federal, Scientific & Technical Information, Springfield, VA 22151).
  5. 5.↵
    1. Foote, John
    . 1917. The geography of medicines — war’s effect upon the world’s sources of supply. The Nat. Geog. Mag. 32(3): 213–238.
    OpenUrl
  6. 6.↵
    1. Gordon, S. Clyde
    . 1960. Cemetery a horticultural highlight. Amer. Nurseryman CXII(1): 9, 112. July 1.
    OpenUrl
  7. 7.↵
    1. Guseva, A
    . 1952. On the chemical composition of leaves of Eucommia ulmoides Oliv. (In Russian) Akad. Nauk SSSR. Dok. 82: 757–760. Feb. 11.
    OpenUrl
  8. 8.↵
    1. Kamp, J.R. and
    2. H. Wilkins
    . 1957. Propagation of Eucommia ulmoides. III. State Florists Assoc. Bull. No. 173, p. 1–2.
  9. 9.↵
    1. Lewis, C.E.
    1981. Eucommia ulmoides. Amer. Nurseryman CLIV(8); cover, 32.
  10. 10.↵
    1. Sievers, Arthur F.
    1917. Notes on the rubber from Eucommia ulmoides Oliver. Jour. Amer. Chem. Soc. 39: 725–731.
    OpenUrl
  11. 11.↵
    1. Steavenson, Hugh
    . 1964. Plant propagators’ question box. Proc. Intl. Plant Prop. Soc. 14: 190–191.
    OpenUrl
  12. 12.↵
    1. Trespe, G.G.
    1932. Opyty po raxmnoxheniyu guttaper-chevogo dereva (Experiments on propoagation of guttapercha tree). Trudy Nauchno-lssledovatel’skikh In-stitutov Promyshelennosti, No. 449. Pervyi Sbornik po Kauchokonosam. pp. 20–25. Moskva-Leningrad, Nauchno-Tekhnicheskoe Izdatel’stvo. (Cited in Dzhaparidze 1963).
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF)
Vol. 10, Issue 8
August 1984
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Arboriculture & Urban Forestry.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Eucommia ulmoides: A Tree For Urban Areas
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Arboriculture & Urban Forestry
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Arboriculture & Urban Forestry web site.
Citation Tools
Eucommia ulmoides: A Tree For Urban Areas
Philip A. Barker
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) Aug 1984, 10 (8) 233-235; DOI: 10.48044/jauf.1984.049

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Eucommia ulmoides: A Tree For Urban Areas
Philip A. Barker
Arboriculture & Urban Forestry (AUF) Aug 1984, 10 (8) 233-235; DOI: 10.48044/jauf.1984.049
del.icio.us logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Trial Plantings
    • Propagation
    • Chemical Properties
    • Common Name
    • Literature Cited
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Contribution of Urban Trees to Ecosystem Services in Lisbon: A Comparative Study Between Gardens and Street Trees
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) in Tree Risk Assessment (TRA): A Systematic Review
  • Thiabendazole as a Therapeutic Root Flare Injection for Beech Leaf Disease Management
Show more Articles

Similar Articles

© 2025 International Society of Arboriculture

Powered by HighWire