Perennial Plant Profiles...

We can think of at least 180 great forest garden & perennial crops for cold climate Sweden.  Want to hear about them  Perennial plants and crops offer a low energy, oil & resource input based foundation for future-proof agricultures. By default if an agriculture is to be called regenerative the bottom line is that it must be soil building, not soil depleting.  Relentless deep tillage & poor soinagement contributes to the majority of the 10 tons of topsoil per person lost every year on planet water. 

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Genus Xanthoceras
Species sorbifolium
Common Name Yellowhorn
Form hrub
Habit clumping
Origin N China
Light sun
Moisture Dry
Edible Flowers, Leaves, Seed

Xanthoceras sorbifolium (yellowhorn, shiny leaf yellowhorn, goldenhorn, Chinese flowering chestnut) is a woody perennial in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae.  It is native to northern China in the provinces of Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning, Nei Monggol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Shandong.

It is a large shrub or small tree growing to 8 m tall. The leaves are arranged alternately, 12–30 cm long, and are pinnate, with 9–17 leaflets, the leaflets 3–6 cm long, with a sharply serrated margin. The flowers are 2–3 cm diameter, with five white petals, and are produced in erect panicles 10–20 cm long in mid spring. The fruit is an oval leathery capsule 5–6 cm diameter, which splits into three sections at maturity to release the 6–18 seeds; the seeds are black, 1.5 cm diameter, resembling a small horse chestnut seed.

Flowers can be eaten cooked. They are usually boiled. Leaves can also be cook the same manner. The seed is about the size of a pea, it is quite sweet, with a taste like a sweet chestnut. The seed is husked and then ground into a powder and boiled.



Dormant plants are hardy to about -20°c and it will need careful placement to survive winter in our location.  Worth a try, anyone else growing it?