''Xanthoceras sorbifolium'', the yellowhorn, shiny leaf yellowhorn, goldenhorn, or Chinese flowering chestnut, is a woody oil tree species in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Sapindaceae The Sapindaceae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera and 1,858 accepted species. Examples include Aesculus, horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee. The ...

, and the only species in the genus ''Xanthoceras''. It is native to northern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in the provinces of

Gansu Gansu is a provinces of China, province in Northwestern China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeastern part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibetan Plateau, Ti ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Henan Henan; alternatively Honan is a province in Central China. Henan is home to many heritage sites, including Yinxu, the ruins of the final capital of the Shang dynasty () and the Shaolin Temple. Four of the historical capitals of China, Lu ...

Liaoning ) , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = Clockwise: Mukden Palace in Shenyang, Xinghai Square in Dalian, Dalian coast, Yalu River at Dandong , image_map = Liaoning in China (+all claims hatched).svg , ...

, Nei Monggol,

Ningxia Ningxia, officially the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, is an autonomous region in Northwestern China. Formerly a province, Ningxia was incorporated into Gansu in 1954 but was later separated from Gansu in 1958 and reconstituted as an autonomous ...

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

, and

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

. It is also cultivated in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, having been imported there since the 19th Century. The genus name ''Xanthoceras'' (which translates as "yellow horn") is considered to be the most basal member of the family Sapindaceae.Harrington, M. G., Edwards, K. J., Johnson, S. A., Mark W. Chase, M. W., & Gadek, P. A. (2005). Phylogenetic inference in Sapindaceae ''sensu lato'' using plastid ''mat''K and ''rbc''L DNA sequences. ''Systematic Botany'' 30 (2): 366-382
Abstract.
/ref> The

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

''sorbifolium'' refers to the leaves, which resemble those of the distantly related

rowan The rowans ( or ) or mountain-ashes are shrubs or trees in the genus ''Sorbus'' of the rose family, Rosaceae. They are native throughout the cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with the highest species diversity in the Himalaya ...

s (''Sorbus''). It was originally spelled ''sorbifolia'', but this is a grammatical error that was corrected to ''sorbifolium'' under the

ICBN The ''International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants'' (ICN or ICNafp) is the set of rules and recommendations dealing with the formal botanical names that are given to plants, fungi and a few other groups of organisms, all tho ...

. ''X. sorbifolium'' is an ancient tree species. It is said it can live up to 2,000 years. It is a sacred tree planted in temples in northern China, because there is no ''

Ficus religiosa ''Ficus religiosa'' or sacred fig is a species of fig native to the Indian subcontinent and Indochina that belongs to Moraceae, the fig or mulberry family. It is also known as the bodhi tree, bo tree, peepul tree, peepal tree, pipala tree or ...

'' in the north. It is also used in traditional Chinese, Mongolian and Tibetan medicine. In

Bencao Gangmu The ''Bencao gangmu'', known in English as the ''Compendium of Materia Medica'' or ''Great Pharmacopoeia'', is an encyclopedic gathering of medicine, natural history, and Chinese herbology compiled and edited by Li Shizhen and published in the ...

, it is called '天仙果 (Heavenly Fairy Fruit)'. Tenacious ''X. sorbifolium'' can grow in snow and drought like in the

Gobi Desert The Gobi Desert (, , ; ) is a large, cold desert and grassland region in North China and southern Mongolia. It is the sixth-largest desert in the world. The name of the desert comes from the Mongolian word ''gobi'', used to refer to all of th ...

. It has very high alimentaire value, medicinal value, ornamental value and ecological value. In cultivation in the UK, ''X. sorbifolium'' has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. It includes the full range of cultivated p ...

Description

It is a large

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

shrub or small tree growing to 8 m tall. The leaves are arranged alternately, 12–30 cm long, and are pinnate, with 9–17 leaflets, the leaflets 3–6 cm long, with a sharply serrated margin.University of British Columbi
Asian Garden Photos: ''Xanthoceras sorbifolium''
/ref> The flowers are 2–3 cm in diameter, with five white petals, and are produced in erect

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

s 10–20 cm long in mid spring. The fruit is an oval leathery capsule 5–6 cm diameter, which splits into three sections at maturity to release the 6–18 seeds; the seeds are black, 1.5 cm in diameter, resembling a small

horse chestnut The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with notable species including buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with ...

seed.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .University of British Columbi
Botany Photo of the Day, August 31, 2006: ''Xanthoceras sorbifolia'' and ''Aesculus hippocastanum''
/ref> The shells of the fruits and seeds are very hard, so that they are best protected during the growth process. Generally, ''X. sorbifolium'' only blooms white flowers. In the process of multiple crosses performed by the '西北文冠果基地/Northwest ''X. sorbifolium'' base' ("using 56 seeds of ''X.sorbifolium'' from all over the country to make them natural hybrids, in order to increase fruit yield"), unexpectedly, the flower color also changed from single to multiple.

Uses

*The leaves, flowers, and seeds of yellowhorn are all edible.Plants for a Future Databas
''Xanthoceras sorbifolium''
/ref> "Both the pulp and the kernel can be eaten raw or used as an ingredient for cooking". "The kernels taste like chestnuts". "Both are nutritious". "Ripe seeds can produce protein drinks".''X.sorbifolium'' has "a long flowering period, fragrant flowers, large nectar content, and rich

reducing sugar A reducing sugar is any sugar that is capable of acting as a reducing agent. In an alkaline solution, a reducing sugar forms some aldehyde or ketone, which allows it to act as a reducing agent, for example in Benedict's reagent. In such a react ...

, it is a high-quality

nectar source A nectar source is a flowering plant that produces nectar (plant), nectar as part of its reproductive strategy. These plants create nectar, which attract pollinating insects and sometimes other animals such as birds. Nectar source plants are imp ...

in early spring in the north" of China. It is worthwhile for beekeepers to produce honey with a special flavor. According to medical research papers on ''X. sorbifolium'' in the United States and China, "the fruit peel extract can inhibit the cells of ovary cancer,

cervical cancer Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix or in any layer of the wall of the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that can invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later sympt ...

and

Melanoma Melanoma is the most dangerous type of skin cancer; it develops from the melanin-producing cells known as melanocytes. It typically occurs in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye (uveal melanoma). In very rare case ...

". The husk has two major values: "the raw material of

furfural Furfural is an organic compound with the formula C4H3OCHO. It is a colorless liquid, although commercial samples are often brown. It has an aldehyde group attached to the 2-position of furan. It is a product of the dehydration of sugars, as occu ...

, which has a wide range of industrial uses", and "the raw material for medicines for treating

urinary system The human urinary system, also known as the urinary tract or renal system, consists of the kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, bladder, and the urethra. The purpose of the urinary system is to eliminate waste from the body, regulate blood volume ...

diseases". *The oil content of the seeds is 40%, and the oil content of the kernels is 66.8%. The

unsaturated fat An unsaturated fat is a fat or fatty acid in which there is at least one double bond within the fatty acid chain. A fatty acid chain is Monounsaturated fat, monounsaturated if it contains one double bond, and polyunsaturated fat, polyunsaturated i ...

of oil is as high as 94%. "Its

saturated fat A saturated fat is a type of fat in which the fatty acid chains have all single bonds between the carbon atoms. A fat known as a glyceride is made of two kinds of smaller molecules: a short glycerol backbone, and fatty acids that each cont ...

content is 1.78 times lower than that of olive oil and 1.9 times lower than that of peanut oil". "Its quality is better than peanut oil and sesame oil, and its health care effect is also unmatched by salad oil and olive oil". ''X. sorbifolium'' oil is rich in nervonic acid (2.6%~5%), according to a medical research report in

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, "after taking ''X. sorbifolium'' oil for 3 months,

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

sequelae,

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a neurodegenerative disease primarily of the central nervous system, affecting both motor system, motor and non-motor systems. Symptoms typically develop gradually and non-motor issues become ...

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, spasticity, stiff muscles, Paresis, weak muscles, and tremors. There may b ...

cerebral atrophy Cerebral atrophy is a common feature of many of the diseases that affect the brain. Atrophy of any tissue means a decrement in the size of the cell, which can be due to progressive loss of cytoplasmic proteins. In brain tissue, atrophy describes ...

head injury A head injury is any injury that results in trauma to the skull or brain. The terms ''traumatic brain injury'' and ''head injury'' are often used interchangeably in the medical literature. Because head injuries cover such a broad scope of inju ...

, memory loss and other

encephalopathy Encephalopathy (; ) means any disorder or disease of the brain, especially chronic degenerative conditions. In modern usage, encephalopathy does not refer to a single disease, but rather to a syndrome of overall brain dysfunction; this syndrome ...

have an average effective rate of 92.8%". In addition, "the average tumor inhibition rate of ''X. sorbifolium'' oil on S180 is 82.94%, which is equivalent to the tumor inhibition effect of

cyclophosphamide Cyclophosphamide (CP), also known as cytophosphane among other names, is a medication used as chemotherapy and to suppress the immune system. As chemotherapy it is used to treat lymphoma, multiple myeloma, leukemia, ovarian cancer, breast cancer ...

, but without the toxin of cyclophosphamide". The "meal" after oil extraction is rich in protein, and "can be used as high-protein food, animal feed, or extract hydrolyzed protein and

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

". "Amino acids extracted from ''X. sorbifolium'' are complete

essential amino acid An essential amino acid, or indispensable amino acid, is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized from scratch by the organism fast enough to supply its demand, and must therefore come from the diet. Of the 21 amino acids common to all life forms ...

". "The nutritional value and absorption rate of ''X.sorbifolium'' protein are higher than

soy protein Soy protein is a protein that is isolated from soybean. It is made from soybean meal that has been dehulled and defatted. Dehulled and defatted soybeans are processed into three kinds of high protein commercial products: soy flour, concen ...

and sunflower seed protein, close to

casein Casein ( , from Latin ''caseus'' "cheese") is a family of related phosphoproteins (CSN1S1, αS1, aS2, CSN2, β, K-casein, κ) that are commonly found in mammalian milk, comprising about 80% of the proteins in cow's milk and between 20% and 60% of ...

". *"Branches and trunk are effective medicines for treating

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including a ...

". The leaves can be used to make tea, "which can

diuresis Diuresis () is the excretion of urine, especially when excessive (polyuria). The term collectively denotes the physiologic processes underpinning increased urine production by the kidneys during maintenance of fluid balance. In healthy people, ...

, remove rheumatism, and lower blood pressure". It also has "the effects of sterilization, anti-inflammatory, reducing fat, anti-oxidation"... etc. "The leaves contain 19.18% to 23% protein, which is higher than that of

black tea Black tea (also literally translated as red tea from various East Asian languages) is a type of tea that is more tea processing, oxidized than oolong, yellow tea, yellow, white tea, white, and green tea, green teas. Black tea is generally st ...

, and the caffeine content is close to that of scented tea".

"One thousand flowers one fruit"

''X.sorbifolium'' has a long history and is distributed in a wide area, but few people knew about it. In 2000, no information about it could be found on the Internet. Also in this year, a person who will be hailed as the "pioneer of the ''X. sorbifolium'' industry" appeared. His name is 马成福/Ma Chengfu, a reportage writer who pays attention to ecology and people's livelihood. His works "《流血的石羊河》/The Bleeding Shiyang River" and "《只有和谐是良药》/Only Harmony Is the Best Medicine" have been compiled into college textbooks. Ma Chengfu was born in August 1968 in a poor farmer's family in Jingtai County,

. Jingtai is located at the eastern end of the

Hexi Corridor The Hexi Corridor ( ), also known as the Gansu Corridor, is an important historical region located in the modern western Gansu province of China. It refers to a narrow stretch of traversable and relatively arable plain west of the Yellow River's O ...

and south of the Tengger Desert. Since childhood, he suffered from drought, water shortage, and sandstorm in the desert climate. This is why he has been thinking about whether there is a tree species that can improve the ecological environment of his hometown and create economic benefits at the same time. To this end, he traveled all over the Hexi Corridor. During a visit in 2000, at the edge of the barren Tengger Desert, Ma Chengfu suddenly saw some trees that grow well and bear fruit'' (at the time he didn't know they were ''X.sorbifolium''), which immediately raised his confidence again. Since then, he has embarked on a long journey of R&D and entrepreneurship of ''X.sorbifolium'' without fear of hardships. There are two main reasons why ''X.sorbifolium'' has not been developed into a commercial crop in the past: "difficulty in transplanting and low fruiting rate". "千花一果/One thousand flowers one fruit" should be a pity for it in the past. After repeated failures, Ma Chengfu solved these two problems and developed the high-yield and high-quality ''X.sorbifolium''. The ''X.sorbifolium'' seedlings cultivated by Ma Chengfu's team-'西北文冠果基地/Northwest ''X. sorbifolium'' base' "have gone out of Gansu, spread to Northwest, Northeast, and North China, and introduced to

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administra ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

and other southern regions". In the past two decades, ''X.sorbifolium'' has also attracted other R&D teams. For example, in Qiu County,

, the planting area in 2018 has reached several thousand "亩/666.67m2". China's first ''X.sorbifolium'' research and development, processing, and sales enterprise also appeared in Qiu County, and achieved a multi-win situation of ecological, economic, and social benefits. In April 2021, the "''X.sorbifolium'' Industry Development and Medicinal Value Summit Forum" was held in Qiu County, expecting to attract more entrepreneurs to develop the economic value and medicinal value of ''X.sorbifolium'', and create an industry-university-research cooperation platform to promote scientific research and innovation achievements. File:Xanthoceras sorbifolia, Arnold Arboretum - IMG 6061.JPG File:Xanthoceras sorbifolia, Arnold Arboretum - IMG 6057.JPG File:Xanthoceras sorbifolium 01.JPG

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q13418151 Monotypic Sapindaceae genera Flora of China Trees of Korea Sapindaceae Taxa named by Alexander von Bunge