Edgeworthia chrysantha in flower in Embankment Gardens this weekend
Dear Readers, a number of you have been telling me about the wonderful scent from the Edgeworthia shrubs that you have in your garden, so when I saw this plant during a walk along the Embankment at the weekend, I had to go in for a sniff. And indeed you weren’t exaggerating – this plant has such a delicious perfume, all the more remarkable on a chilly day. Otherwise known as the paperbush, the plant is named after amateur botanist Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, an Irishman who worked for the East India Company, and for his sister Maria Edgeworth, herself an accomplished author (born in England, she was said to have been the ‘most celebrated and successful living English writer’ of her day). However, her heart seems to have been in Ireland, where there is not only an Edgeworthstown, but a Maria Edgeworth Center and Festival. This blog does lead me to some most surprising discoveries!
This species of Edgeworthia comes originally from Myanmar and southern/western China, where it grows in forests and on shrubby slopes. Here it is in flower in the Imperial Palace gardens in Tokyo (where it is naturalised). What is so unusual about this plant, to my eyes at least, is that flowers before any leaves appear and so the blossom looks all the more spectacular.
Photo by By Egghead06 at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10752563
Why ‘paperbark’, though? Edgeworthia (known as mitsumata in Japan) is used to make a very special kind of tissue paper, which can be used for repairing any damage or tears in manuscripts or books. It’s also used for Japanese banknotes!
Japanese Tissue made from the bark of the Kozo (Paper Mulberry) tree. This can be repaired with fibres from the Edgeworthia.
Edgeworthia bark and roots are known as ‘Zhu shima‘ in Chinese medicine, and have been shown to have some analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, while the flowers have been used for eye infections. The chemicals involved in the medicinal effects are derivatives of coumarin, which is the same ingredient which makes the plant smell so good.
Edgeworthia flowers (Photo By 清水五月 (Shimizusatsuki) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9098823)
Edgeworthia is a member of the Thymelaeaceae, a huge family of nearly 900 species and 50 genera. It will probably come as no surprise to hear that it shares the family with that other fragrant winter-flowering shrub, Daphne. Several other members of the family are also used in paper production. However, Edgeworthia chrysantha is unique in having a stem that splits into three identical parts, something that no other living plant is known to do. Don’t you just love botanists, with their attention to detail?