English: Chinese perfume plant.
Region: east Asia, southern China, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam.
Habitat: understorey shrub in sparse forests or thickets in mountainous regions; evergreen forests; more open, secondary formations; along the coast; in clay soils; at elevations to 700 metres.
Content: cyclopenta-b-tetrahydrobenzofuran compounds, also called rocaglate or rocaglamide derivatives, or flavaglines, potent insecticidal, antifungal, antiviral, antibacterial; anthelmintic.
Culture: near threatened.
Use: food, medicine; wood; essential oil; ornamental as a hedge, for the very fragrant flowers; dried flowers as flavour tea, to scent clothes, scenting like vanilla, with spicy undertones; tender young leaves cooked and eaten as a vegetable.
BotanySlow-growing, much branched, evergreen, dioecious shrub or small tree; up to 10 metres tall.
Stem: 15 cm in diameter.
Flowers: fragrant, more in the evening, more in male plants.