Botanical family: Nyssaceae

Camptotheca acuminata

USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map

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Handsome tree from China, growing to 75' for warm zones. Easily grown from seed and can be kept pruned to desired size indoors with ample warmth and bright light. If cut back to ground level it seems to grow back even faster. Attractive ovate leaves have prominent venation. This tree produces a drug called "Camptothesin" that has shown considerable potential in cancer research.

Camptotheca is a genus of medium-sized deciduous trees, native to southern China and Tibet. They are usually included in the tupelo family Nyssaceae, but sometimes included (with the tupelos) in the dogwood family Cornaceae.

Close related species - Davidia involucrata.

Davidia involucrata

The Dove Tree, also known as Davidia involucrata, is a small tree that commands attention with its showy flowers. These flowers, which are held between two white bracts, appear in mid-spring and last for about a week or two. The leaves of the Dove Tree are heart-shaped and serrated around the edges, with a white felt-like appearance on the underside. In the late autumn, the tree produces a 3cm drupe fruit containing a nutlet with up to ten seeds.

Native to China, the Dove Tree can be grown in USDA zones 6 - 8 and prefers full sun to semi shade. It grows to a height of 10-20 ft and is self-fertile. While it is deciduous and enters dormancy in the winter months, mature plants are cold hardy down to the low thirties Fahrenheit, making them suitable for growing in pots or planters in cold regions. However, as a member of the Nyssa family, the Dove Tree is not frost or drought tolerant and will require extra watering in hot and dry conditions. It should be planted in moist, well-drained soil.