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Pseudocydonia sinensis

Common name:	Chinese Quince	Family:	Rosaceae
Author:	(Dum.Cours.)C.K.Schneid.	Botanical references:	11, 200, 266
Synonyms:	Malus sinensis (Dum.Cours.), Cydonia sinensis ((Dum.Cours.)Thouin.), Chaenomeles sinensis ((Dum.Cours.)Koehne.)
Known Hazards:	None known
Range:	E. Asia - China.
Habitat:	Found at elevations around 1000 metres in Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hebei, Hubei, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces[266].
Edibility Rating (1-5):	2	Medicinal Rating (1-5):	1

Other Possible Synonyms:	From various places across the web, may not be correct. See below.
	Pirus sinensis[H] Pyrus cathayensis[G] Pyrus sinensis[G]
Other Common Names:	From various places around the Web, may not be correct. See below.
	Chinese Quince [H,DEN2], Karin [E],
Systematics:	From a USDA Plants Database
	Order: Rosales. Rose family
Other Range Info:	From the Ethnobotany Database
	China

Physical Characteristics

A decidious tree growing to 6m by 6m . It is hardy to zone 6. It is in flower from April to May, and the seeds ripen in October. The flowers are hermaphrodite (have both male and female organs) and are pollinated by Insects. We rate it 2/5 for edibility and 1/5 for medicinal use.

The plant prefers light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils. The plant prefers acid, neutral and basic (alkaline) soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It requires moist soil.

Habitats and Possible Locations

Woodland, Sunny Edge.

Edible Uses

Fruit.

Fruit - eaten as a sweetmeat, candied, preserved in syrup or made into a liqueur[46, 183]. The juice can also be mixed with ginger and made into a beverage[183]. The fruit is very large, up to 18cm long[105, 179].

Medicinal Uses

Disclaimer

Antitussive.

The fruit is antitussive[174, 279]. It contains several medically active constituents including organic acids plus the flavonoids rutin and quercetin[279]. It is used in Korea to treat asthma, the common cold, sore throats, mastitis and tuberculosis[279].

Other Uses

Pot-pourri Wood.

The fruits are very aromatic and are placed in a bowl to impart a delightful spicy scent to a room[46].
Wood - hard, dark red. Used for picture frames[174].

Cultivation details

Requires a sunny position[1, 11], succeeding in any reasonably good soil that is well-drained but not dry[1, 200].
Trees are very hardy when grown in a continental climate with long hot summers but in the cooler climate of Britain where they do not always ripen their wood they are only reliably hardy to about -5° c[200]. They grow well on a south-facing wall[11, 200] and this is the only way to ensure that they fruit well in Britain[1]. A plant growing in a sunny position on the south side of tree cover at Kew was 3.5 metres tall in spring 1995 and looked healthy[K].
Occasionally cultivated, especially in China[46], for its edible fruit, there are some named varieties[183].
There is a disagreement over the correct name for this species, with some authorities using Pseudocydonia sinensis[11, 200] and others Chaenomeles sinensis[266].
Flowers are produced on year-old wood[200].

Propagation

Seed - best sown in a cold frame as soon as it is ripe in the autumn[200]. Stored seed requires 3 months cold stratification and should be sown as early in the year as possible[113]. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.
Layering.

Cultivars

'Dragon Eye': The yellow medium-size fruit is hard and suitable for pickling[183]. It ripens in mid to late autumn[183]. A self-sterile plant, it requires another cultivar for pollination to take place[183].
'Chino': The large fragrant greenish-white fruit has few seeds[183]. It ripens in mid to late autumn[183]. This cultivar is adapted to growing in all areas of southern USA, except Florida[183]. Self-sterile, it requires another cultivar for pollination to take place[183].

Suppliers

For more details of plant suppliers please see our Suppliers Page which lists many more places to look.

PFAF Web Pages

This plant is mentioned in the following web pages

Web References

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[B] Data (Latin & Common names, other references) from the BONAP's Synonymized Checklist of the Vascular Flora of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.
[G] Data (Common Names, Uses, Distribution) from the USDA/ARS NPGS's GRIN taxonomic database.
[HP] Links, Photos, Suppliers from Hortiplex Plant Database
[DEN] Data _ Photos (Good Identification info) from the Virginia Tech's Dendrology Deptarments' Tree Fact Sheets.

References for Chaenomeles sinensis (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database
[E] Ethnobotany Data (common names, uses, countries) from the Ethnobotany Database.

References for Cydonia sinensis (a possible synonym).

[H] Details of Scandanavian and European Common names in Henriette's names database

See the PFAF Links Pages for other sources.

Also try Photos and info from the The Plants Database which has 14,000 images.

References

[K] Ken Fern
Notes from observations, tasting etc at Plants For A Future and on field trips.

[1] F. Chittendon. RHS Dictionary of Plants plus Supplement. 1956 Oxford University Press 1951
Comprehensive listing of species and how to grow them. Somewhat outdated, it has been replaces in 1992 by a new dictionary (see [200]).

[11] Bean. W. Trees and Shrubs Hardy in Great Britain. Vol 1 - 4 and Supplement. Murray 1981
A classic with a wealth of information on the plants, but poor on pictures.

[46] Uphof. J. C. Th. Dictionary of Economic Plants. Weinheim 1959
An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.

[105] Tanaka. T. Tanaka's Cyclopaedia of Edible Plants of the World. Keigaku Publishing 1976
The most comprehensive guide to edible plants I've come across. Only the briefest entry for each species, though, and some of the entries are more than a little dubious. Not for the casual reader.

[113] Dirr. M. A. and Heuser. M. W. The Reference Manual of Woody Plant Propagation. Athens Ga. Varsity Press 1987 ISBN 0942375009
A very detailed book on propagating trees. Not for the casual reader.

[174] Kariyone. T. Atlas of Medicinal Plants.
A good Japanese herbal.

[179] Reid. B. E. Famine Foods of the Chiu-Huang Pen-ts'ao. Taipei. Southern Materials Centre 1977
A translation of an ancient Chinese book on edible wild foods. Fascinating.

[183] Facciola. S. Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. Kampong Publications 1990 ISBN 0-9628087-0-9
Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.

[200] Huxley. A. The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. MacMillan Press 1992 ISBN 0-333-47494-5
Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.

[266] Flora of China 1994
On-line version of the Flora - an excellent resource giving basic info on habitat and some uses.

Readers Comments

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Plant information taken from the Plants For A Future - Species Database. Copyright (c) 1997-2003.
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