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Litsea tree
(
Update:
04/11/2020
)
Describe the characteristics of the roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds of Litsea; climatic and soil conditions of Litsea tree; The value and demand for Litsea products, the suitability of Litsea with local climatic and soil conditions ...
English name / Scientific name: Litsea Rotundifolia
Set: The Dragon Brain (Laurales)
Family: Lauraceae (Lauraceae)
Chi: Chi Litsea
Species: Species of L. Rotundifolia
1. Botanical characteristics of Litsea tree
1.1. Body and branches Litsea
Red Litsea is a small tree, can be 25 - 30 meters high, 40 - 60 cm in diameter, straight stem, compact canopy with few branches.
The trunk of the Boi Loi tree has a clear, straight main stem, the height below the branch is usually 2/3 of the peak height.
Figure 1.1.1 Litsea tree trunk
Under the base of Litsea stem, there are many shoots in the sleeping state, after being cut to exploit these shoots have a very strong regeneration ability.
Figure 1.1.2. Shoot regeneration
Adult branches are cylindrical, smooth; Small branches usually fit with the stem at an angle of 300 to create a small, compact canopy, twigs with or without edges, young branches with yellow or absent fluff, mature branches are cylindrical.
Litsea red bark when young is light green or dark green, then turns brown or dark brown, rough and slightly rough, the bark is usually 1-2 cm thick, the bark has little clear taste, contains a lot of viscous mucus. and stick. The bark of the Litsea Litsea is the most valuable part of the tree.
1.2. Litsea tree leaves
The leaves are staggered, often in clusters at the tip of the branch, the leaf size varies depending on the variety and the external conditions.
Figure 1.1.5. Litsea leaf
The petiole is hairy; The blade is chewy, hard to crumple, hard to crush, and when crumpled, it secretes mucus. The leaves are dark green, the upper surface is glossy, the underside has thin yellowish hairs, the veins are prominent on both sides, the petiole is 2-3cm long, the young leaves are pinkish.
1.3. Litsea flower
The flowers grow in clusters, mace shaped at the tip of the branch, light yellow.
The flowers are usually 7-20cm long, 3-5cm wide, oval or oblong, the bottom of the leaf is round or pointed, the tip is pointed or obtuse;
Litsea flower belongs to the same type of flowers, has 3-6 flower clusters forming a small canopy on a common stalk 1-3cm long, stem of each flower is 2-3cm long, flower shaft base usually has pale yellow feathers.
Litsea flower blooms in May - June.
Figure 1.1.6. Litsea flower buds
1.4. Litsea fruit and seeds
Fruit spherical, 10 - 15 mm in diameter
Litsea fruit, when ripe, changes from green to purple brown, then black brown to completely black purple, covered with white chalk on the outside, and light red stalks. Each contains 1 seed.
Seeds when ripe, the outer shell swells up, succulent, containing a lot of starch, stimulating birds to eat.
The fruit is usually ripe in September - November
Figure 1.1.8. Green Litsea results
Figure 1.1.9. Litsea ripe fruit
1.5. Litsea tree roots
Litsea mature roots include the following roots: Pile roots, lateral roots and silk roots. Boi Loi tree has a very developed root system. Trees under 5 years old can penetrate deep from 1.2 to 1.5m; horizontal roots spread 1.1 - 1.5m.
The Litsea root system is responsible for absorbing water, nutrients and preventing the plant from falling.
The development of Litsea root system depends on many factors: varieties, soil conditions, technical care measures ...
2. Conditions that cause Litsea tree planting
2.1. Climate
Litsea tree requires an average annual rainfall of about 1500-2,000mm.
Average annual temperature: 20 - 23oC, the total temperature in the year is about 7000 - 8000oC. The period with average temperature over 20oC is about 7-8 months.
Boi Loi is a moderate light-loving tree. When they are young and they are young, they love ball.
2.2. Land
Litsea tree is distributed at an altitude of 600–700 m (compared to sea level), grows in low areas in secondary forests, often found in forest mouths and along large streams.
Boi Loi tree is suitable for highland terrain, hills with a gentle slope or relatively flat.
In natural forests, red litsea tree often mixed with species: twilight, re, canarium, brocade, clear, ...
The relatively easy-going Litsea tree can grow and develop on many different types of soil such as red basalt soil, gray soil and yellow red soil, dry areas, poor nutrition, relatively fast for harvest, yield. It is quite high, so farmers can intercrop coffee garden, corn fields, noodles ... to prevent risks of monoculture.
Figure 1.1.10. Litsea is grown on rocky soil.
In the wild, Litsea often grows in abundance and is common in lowland areas of the secondary forest. Commonly found on forest edges along big streams, on old upland fields. The distribution is relatively wide, and can be found throughout the North, Central and South. As a light-loving tree that grows quickly, the ability to regenerate seeds and shoots is very strong. In natural forests, Litsea often grows mixed with trees: Nhoi, Boi, Sua, Boi Loi red round leaves ...
Figure 1.1.11. Boi Loi is intercropped with cassava on sandy soil
In order for Litsea Litsea tree to grow and develop smoothly, when choosing a Litsea tree, it is necessary to pay attention to the following requirements:
The thicker the soil layer, the better it must be> 50cm.
The soil has an average mechanical composition
Good soil, rich in humus
The soil has good drainage ...
The soil is less acidic, with a pH of 4.5-6.5;
Figure 1.1.12. Litsea planted on basalt red soil
Boi Loi tree can be grown on many types of land, but when planning the land to grow Litsea red, in addition to the land potential, it is necessary to pay attention to the population distribution, education level and farming practices of people. people to make reasonable decisions. Thus, the expansion of Litsea Litsea growing area has both economic and social efficiency.
3. Value brought from the Boi Loi tree
3.1. About the economic value of Litsea tree
Compared with other industrial crops, Loi Loi has relatively simple planting and care techniques, but the economic efficiency is relatively high, positively contributing to hunger eradication and stable poverty reduction. material life for farmers, while capital investment ability as well as farming skills are limited.
Currently on the domestic market, in addition to the economic value mainly of harvesting the bark, people also take advantage of small branches and leaves to make incense powder. Wood for scaffolding, civil construction materials, raw materials for paper mills.
Growing Boi Loi after 5-7 years, it is possible to harvest from 5 - 10 kg of bark / tree depending on growing conditions of the planting site. After harvesting, the shoots can be regenerated several times without re-planting.
Compared with many other crops, Litsea is easy to cultivate and adaptable. The fertile land is also lush, but experiencing drought, is still green, highly regenerative, with little investment capital (about 3-4 million VND per hectare), planted until the fourth year can be exploited.
Not only gives an income of hundreds of millions of VND per year, but Litsea is also a tree for sustainable poverty reduction, helping to eliminate deforestation in many localities in Gia Lai province.
In particular, all the leaves, branches, bark, stems, and seeds of Litsea can be used for sale.
Figure 1.1.13. Hiding in the body of Litsea
Figure 1.1.14. Hiding the bark in Litsea branch
Fig1.1.15. Litsea shell products
Figure 1.1.16. Litsea body after hewing the shell used in construction
Figure 1.1.17. Litsea leaves and branches are ground
Figure 1.1.18. Litsea powder is used as incense (incense)
Another advantage is that Litsea Red does not depend on the season, so you do not worry about being pressed by traders, the higher the price the tree is. Families can take advantage of them to plant many other agricultural products alternately.
In the future, Litsea Red is not only a tree to alleviate poverty, but also help to green up bare land and hills.
3.2. Medicinal value of Litsea tree
In India, scientists Radhkrishman, Ramasany A and Arfin S (1989) have extracted from the bark of the red Litsea Sufoof-e musummin which is used as medicinal herbs.
Indonesia, the authors Rizan Helmi and Zamri Adel (1989) by spectroscopy extracted from the branches, roots and bark of Litsea leaf substances such as 2,9 Dihydroxy; 1,10 dimethoxyaporhine; 6 threne methoxyphenane 9% used in medicine.
At the International Conference on Ethnic Medicine and Medicinal Plants in Indonesia in 1990, it was confirmed that Litsea can extract a number of chemicals used in medicine.
In the document "Commonly found plants in Vietnam, volume II" described the "Boi Loi" tree and some of its uses such as the bark for pain relief and healing effects;
Some remedies for healing from Litsea:
Sprains, hematoma injuries, joint pain: Fresh peel, shave off the dry layer, crush, apply bundle. Or use chopped old leaves for less salt, crushed water (if there is salt, the leaves are not tough).
Boils, abscesses, mastitis: Litsea leaves, edema leaves, crushed with two equal amounts of salt. This drug works very well, achieves high results, covers all day without burning the skin.
Treatment of loose pepper, dysentery: 30g of Litsea stem or leaf bark, 10g of fresh ginger, 10g of tangerine peel, cooking and drinking.
Headache in the first natural system: Leaves or bark of Litsea 30g, white only 10g, licorice 5g, cooking excellent drink. Or use dry leaves 16g excellent drink during the day
Flatulence, heartburn, belching, bloating: Using fresh Litsea leaves, burning, powdered drink, this way according to folk experience, very effective.
Combing hair: Shredded fresh bark soaked in water. Use this water to brush hair, hair is quiet, smooth like a brush. Use Litsea leaf water to brush hair without worrying about scalp allergies, easy to wash, not re-oil.
3.3. Demand for products of Litsea
Litsea red is a multi-purpose tree. Litsea bark contains aromatic essential oils, extracted to get essential oils used in medicine, fragrance, industrial glue materials, paint, medicinal ...
Previously, the bark of Boi Loi was exploited mainly as a binder in making incense for burning.
Boi Loi belongs to group 4, has a solid yellow brown color, rarely suffers from termites, and can be used for making household items and as paper material. Litsea peel can be used as medicine, glue material, incense powder, leaves used as animal feed.
Products from Red Litsea are very diverse, demand for products from Litsea is very high, current and future consumption markets are still very wide open.
Currently, the demand for raw materials from this plant is very high, especially for the local incense production villages, for the pharmaceutical factories, in addition to serving domestic and foreign use. Red Litsea bark is also exported by agro-forestry product purchasing agents to China and India for incense, and the trunk is sold as construction materials.
The development, expansion of planting and trading this tree are being interested by many localities and farmers, especially in the Central Highlands.