Trip to the Institute of Tropical Botany
at Xishuangbanna Yunnan

23. Fast Growing Trees - Anthocephalus chinenis

One of our students worked at this institute. He worked on a particular tree (Anthocephalus chinenis) that has a fantastic growth rate. It grows straight with few branches other than at the top. It puts on a 1 to 1 1/2 inch growth ring a year. It had a problem in that it took two years for the seed to germinate. He worked out a method that allowed the seed to germinate in a month. The tree has a great suitability for lumber. It cannot, however, withstand temperatures below 40 degrees. A grove of those trees grows here.