Laminated Specimen - Leaf 

  --  3 pieces lot

Real Chinese Tallow - Triadica sebifera leaf specimen laminated in square plastic sheet. The specimen is clear, transparent and indestructible. Safe, authentic and completely unbreakable product put the leaf right at your fingertips!

Anyone can safely explore the leaf from both sides.

Length of the leaf is 4.5 cm (1.8 inch).

Size of the lamination sheet is 7.5x7.5 cm (3x3 inch).

This is a handmade real specimen craft. Each one will be a bit different (specimen size, color and posture) even in the same production batch.

The pictures in the listing are just for reference as we are selling multiple pieces with same pictures.

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Chinese Tallow - Triadica sebifera

Triadica sebifera, also known as Sapium sebiferum, is commonly known as the Chinese tallow tree, Florida aspen, chicken tree, gray popcorn tree, and candleberry tree. The tree is native to eastern Asia, and is most commonly associated with eastern China, Taiwan, and Japan. In these regions, the waxy coating of the seeds is used for candle and soap making, and the leaves are used as herbal medicine to treat boils. The plant sap and leaves are reputed to be toxic, and decaying leaves from the plant are toxic to other species of plant. The specific epithets sebifera and sebiferum mean "wax-bearing" and refer to the vegetable tallow that coats the seeds.

It is useful in the production of biodiesel because it is the third most productive vegetable oil producing crop in the world, after algae and oil palm. This species is considered to be a noxious invader in parts of the southern U.S.

The simple, deciduous leaves of this tree are alternate, broad rhombic to ovate in shape and have smooth edges, heart shaped and sometimes with an extended tail often resembling the bo tree, Ficus religiosa. The leaves are bright green in color and slightly paler underneath. They become bright yellows, oranges, purples and reds in the autumn. The tree is monoecious, producing male and female flowers on the same plant.

The waxy green leaves set off the clusters of greenish-yellow and white flowers at bloom time. The flowers occur in terminal spike-like inflorescences up to 20 cm long. Light green in color, these flowers are very conspicuous in the spring. Each pistillate (female) flower is solitary and has a three-lobed ovary, three styles, and no petals. They are located on short branches at the base of the spike. The staminate (male) flowers occur in clusters at the upper nodes of the inflorescence.

Fruits are three-lobed, three-valved capsules. As the capsules mature, their color changes from green to a brown-black. The capsule walls fall away and release three globose seeds with a white, tallow-containing covering. Seeds usually hang on the plants for several weeks. In North America, the flowers typically mature from April to June and the fruit ripens from September to October.

The seed's white waxy aril is used in soap making. The seed's inner oil is toxic but has industrial applications.

The nectar is non-toxic, and it has become a major honey plant for beekeepers. The honey is of high quality, and is produced copiously during the month of June, on the Gulf Coast. In the Gulf coast states, beekeepers migrate with their honey bees to good tallow locations near the sea.

The tree is highly ornamental, fast growing and a good shade tree. It is especially noteworthy if grown in areas that have strong seasonal temperature ranges with the leaves becoming a multitude of colours rivaling maples in the autumn.