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ChineseTallow Tree - Triadica sebifera
Family: Euphorbiaceae

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Description

Chinese tallow tree is a small to medium-sized monoecious tree. The leaves are alternate, simple, and net-veined. The petiole is long with two glands on the upper side near the blade. The blade is rhombic-ovate, entire, with an acuminate apex and a round to truncate base. Leaves of Chinese tallow tree turn red in the fall, making it a popular ornamental. The flowers are imperfect, with green sepals and no petals, and are produced in a terminal spike. The staminate flowers are terminal in the spike and the pistillate ones are near the base. The fruit is a three-locular capsule with three seeds. The seeds are globose-flattened, 6-9 mm in diameter, turn white with age, and often persist on the tree into winter.

Growth Characteristics:

Plants grow in abandoned fields, pastures, waste areas, and forests. The species grows in a wide range of environmental conditions: wet to dry and shade to full sun. It reproduces by seeds only, but one plant can produce hundreds of seeds. The seeds seem to have a tremendous ability to germinate under adverse conditions. The plant is a fast-growing tree, hence its popularity as a shade tree ornamental.

Problems:

The fast-growing habit, massive seed production, and great seed germinability allow this species to invade areas occupied by natives. It can outcompete most natives and soon displaces them. The plants seem not to be eaten by livestock and thus dominate in pastures.

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"The incredible diversity of native plants in the coastal prairies is gone within 30 years after the Chinese tallow tree invades the area," said Siemann, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "By studying how this tree has been able to thrive, we should be able to learn more about the rules that govern a biological community and the interactions among species within that community."

Known for its heart-shaped leaves and white fruits, the Chinese tallow tree originated in Asia. The U.S. government brought it to the Gulf Coast area around 1900 in hope of using the wax-covered seeds as an agricultural crop. That project was unsuccessful, and the trees escaped from cultivation. Siemann is concerned about the spread of Chinese tallow trees, because once they replace bluestem grasses, sunflowers, blazing stars and other plants found in the prairies, those species and their associated animal fauna will not come back.

One of the reasons this tree has been able to grow so well is that insects have left it alone and munched on other foliage. Siemann said this is particularly peculiar because unlike the slow-growing tallow tree found in China, the American variety lets its defenses down. The Chinese variety has chemicals in its leaves that makes them hard to digest. The American variety does not produce this substance; instead, it appears to use that energy to grow quickly, which promotes the development of forests.

Siemann is testing various methods of controlling the tallow trees using land in Galveston County owned by the University of Houston Coastal Center. "If you knock down the tallow trees, they just sprout from roots like crazy," he said. But fire can kill small tallow trees when they’re vulnerable. During a six-year experiment, Siemann is studying how frequently a prairie needs to be burned to keep the tallow trees out.

He is also flooding sections of prairies and pumping water out of others to determine whether wet or dry conditions can make the prairies more vulnerable to invasion. Another study involves examining the effect fertilizing with nitrogen has on the trees’ growth. "Prairie grass is very efficient at using nitrogen, and the tallow tree uses nitrogen very inefficiently," Siemann said.

Because the Chinese tallow trees are starting to sprout in the forests of East Texas, Siemann believes the lessons learned from his research will be applicable to many areas. "This tree is gobbling up real estate everywhere," he said. "Once the canopy trees come down, they’ll be replaced by Chinese tallow trees." Several experiments in the Big Thicket National Preserve investigate whether the same factors are responsible for the Chinese tallow tree’s success in the forests as in grasslands.