Osmanthus preserves memories, provides livelihoods

On a campus in Guiyang, Guizhou province, last autumn, Zhao Jiangmei stood under an osmanthus tree and gave it a gentle shake. Golden blossoms drifted down like rain. She and her friends gathered the fallen flowers, washed and dried them, then layered them with sugar in jars.

"We sealed the memory of autumn in small jars," the 20-year-old said.

Zhao has come to see the osmanthus as a companion whose unchanging fragrance has accompanied her. This autumn, she hopes to sit under the tree to soak up some sun, breathe in the scent of the flowers and clear her mind.

That autumn, she also made osmanthus honey and wine. When she tasted them this spring, the flavor had softened but still carried the flower's sweetness.

"The wine was a little too sugary, with a faint osmanthus aftertaste, and the soaked flowers had turned amber," she recalled.

Autumn also brings osmanthus into the kitchen. Osmanthus cake, a soft, chewy treat made from glutinous rice flour and rice flour, is a classic. Another favorite, especially among people south of the Yangtze River, is lotus root stuffed with sticky rice and slow-simmered with sugar and osmanthus.

For Zhao, osmanthus is a way to preserve memories. For others, it is a lifelong career.

Zhu Mingchuan, vice-president of the Chengdu Flower Association in Sichuan province, is a second-generation osmanthus grower. His father began planting the trees in 1986, selecting varieties and raising seedlings to maturity. Zhu joined the family business after graduating from university in 2009 and decided it was worth carrying on.

"The osmanthus has a rich fragrance and delicate colors, and is loved by most people. In Chinese culture, it also symbolizes good fortune," the 38-year-old said.

In Chengdu, as in many other parts of the country, the first osmanthus flowers usually appear in late August or early September, Zhu said. The tree spends the summer in heat-induced dormancy, storing nutrients in its buds. When the Start of Autumn solar term arrives in August and temperatures begin to fall, the buds start to break dormancy.

A second, stronger flowering often follows in September, and a third may come later if the weather remains mild and humid. A heavy bloom can be triggered by plentiful rain and a drop in temperatures from above 30 C to around 25 C.

"In Chengdu, the first bloom signals the true arrival of autumn. Even when early autumn still feels warm, once the osmanthus blooms, temperatures have usually begun to fall," Zhu said.

How long the blossoms remain on the branches depends on the weather. In Chengdu this year, the first flowering was sparse, but sunny weather kept the flowers on the trees from Aug 22 to 31, he said.

Because the first bloom is sparse, little is harvested. A later bloom, usually around Mid-Autumn Festival, is denser and provides the main harvest. Golden and red osmanthus varieties flower heavily at that time, Zhu said.

However, the flowering pattern is not fixed. In Dali, Kunming and many other parts of Yunnan province, where the climate is mild and variable, osmanthus may flower once in the first half of the year, again in June or July, and sometimes even in winter, he said.

The flower's annual rhythm — its arrival with the first cool air of autumn — has long tied osmanthus to Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar. Its flowering coincides with the time when families gather and the moon is at its fullest.

Mystery and poetry

The flower and the moon have been associated with each other since ancient times. The Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220) classic Huainanzi records a legend about an osmanthus tree growing on the moon, a myth that reflects people's enduring reverie about the moon.

The association runs deep. One well-known story tells of Wu Gang, a man punished by the Jade Emperor and ordered to chop down a giant osmanthus tree on the moon. The tree healed itself after every ax wound, leaving Wu Gang to cut it down endlessly.

If the myth lends the osmanthus its mystery, its quiet beauty lends it its poetry.

The Song Dynasty (960-1279) poet Li Qingzhao wrote of the flower: "Pale, faint yellow, soft in its way. Aloof and far, it leaves but scent to stay. Why need pale green or deep red hue? It is the finest flower, the first in view."

Autumn gives the tree much of its cultural power. It is the harvest season, and osmanthus flowers bloom mostly in yellow and red, colors traditionally associated with wealth and good fortune, Zhu said.

"The golden osmanthus is especially prized. When the tree is in full bloom, it seems to turn golden itself," he said.

The flower is also prized for its fragrance, which can carry for miles.

"A single tree can fill an entire neighborhood. It produces little pollen, so it is unlikely to trigger allergies, and its fragrance is delicate rather than overpowering," Zhu said.

Osmanthus is valued for its longevity as well. It is an evergreen tree, and some specimens can live for more than 1,000 years, he said.

For large public projects, municipal landscaping and factory grounds, the tree symbolizes an enduring foundation. In private gardens, it is traditionally seen as a wish for distinction and good fortune for one's children.

For Yang Jingyi, 28, osmanthus was not part of her childhood. She grew up in a small city in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, where the flower is not commonly grown. She first encountered it at university in Hunan province.

For Yang, its scent is closely tied to memories of growing up.

"University was a new experience, and the smell means a lot," she said.

While at university, Yang rented a flat on the third floor, with an osmanthus tree standing outside her window. When it bloomed, she would open the window, make osmanthus-flavored lotus root powder and breathe in the scent through the sheer curtain.

She also made many friends through part-time jobs. They camped and climbed mountains together.

"The fragrance of osmanthus carries that memory with it, so thinking back makes me feel happy," she said.

Early last year, Yang bought an osmanthus tree. She repotted, watered and pruned it, and it bloomed two or three times. Then her mother suggested moving it to a bigger pot because its roots had filled the old one. They repotted it together, but damaged the roots in the process, and the tree never recovered.

"I haven't planted one since. Indoors confines it. Outdoors suits it better. Like people, it needs wind and sun to grow strong," she said.

Age-old cultivation

For growers, success depends not only on careful handling but also on the variety. Beyond the familiar golden, silver and red osmanthus, there is the four-season osmanthus, which can flower for around 200 days a year.

Zhu said it stops blooming mainly during the hottest summer months but flowers for much of the rest of the year. Most common varieties flower in August and September.

Although the four-season osmanthus blooms for much of the year, it generally does not grow tall outside southern areas such as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region and Guangdong province. Only in such places can it develop into a large tree. Elsewhere, it usually remains a small tree or shrub.

By contrast, golden osmanthus can reach up to 20 meters. That is why four-season osmanthus is often planted alongside taller varieties to create a more attractive display, Zhu said.

"Together, they can provide flowers and fragrance for much of the year," he said.

Common osmanthus varieties can be grown in areas south of the Yellow River. Farther north, conditions are less suitable. For example, osmanthus varieties grown in Chengdu can be planted as far north as Zhengzhou, Henan province, but there they survive rather than thrive, Zhu said.

Where conditions are favorable, however, osmanthus cultivation can grow far beyond a garden pastime. Nowhere is this more evident than in Xianning, Hubei province.

Osmanthus cultivation there dates back more than 2,300 years, with large-scale cultivation beginning in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Xianning Daily reported in June.

Today, Xianning is home to about 2,500 ancient osmanthus trees that are more than a century old, accounting for more than 90 percent of the national total, along with a small number of millennium-old trees. The city now produces 1,100 metric tons of fresh osmanthus flowers a year.

Its osmanthus industry spans the entire value chain, from cultivation and processing to cultural tourism. Its product range has expanded from traditional osmanthus crisp candies and osmanthus cakes to high-value-added products such as osmanthus wine, essential oils, fragrances and skin care products, giving the industry strong market potential.

lihongyang@chinadaily.com.cn