This rare tree is bearing cone-like fruits beside the South Walk.
A native of east Asia, this species was first introduced to our gardens by Robert Fortune from the Chusan Hills, China in 1844, and was named as Fortunaea chinensis by John Lindley in 1846. However, it had been named and described as Platycarya strobilacea in 1843 from plant material collected by the German physician Philip von Siebold, and according to the International Code of Nomenclature, this earlier name took precedence. The genus comprises this single species, and takes its name from the Greek platys, meaning broad, and karya meaning nut, while the epithet strobilacea refers to the cone-like fruits. P. strobilacea is a member of the walnut family (Juglandaceae), and is similar to other members of this family in having pinnate foliage, but differs from most members of the family in having flat, winged nutlets, Pterocarya being a more widely recognised genus also with flat fruits. The inflorescences of Platycarya comprise both male and female flowers, with the erect male catkins being finger-like in appearance, and surrounding a cone-like structure whose lower half is female, and whose upper segments can be male. The cones will persist on the tree for two years, drying with age to a rich chestnut colour, and you will often see fresh cones alongside cones produced in the previous year. Relatives of this species are known from fossil records found on the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames estuary, and these date from the Eocene era approximately 50 million years ago.