Euphorbiaceae, the Spurge Family
The Chinese tallow grows to about 40 feet tall, with an airy, rounded crown. All parts of the plant exude a milky sap when damaged. The distinctive leaves are deciduous, alternate, with a slender petiole that is often as long as the blade. They are diamond-shaped, with a broad-tapering, almost truncated base, an abruptly long-pointed tip and an entire margin. The leaves are 1 to 3 inches long, and about two-thirds as broad. Separate male and female flowers are borne in long, slender, drooping yellow catkins. The fruit is a three-parted capsule that turns brown at maturity, splitting to reveal three white seeds. The seeds remain on the branches for a prolonged period of time and together they look like a popped kernel of popcorn.
The tree is native to Central China and Japan, but it is widely cultivated for the oil in its seeds. It has escaped and has become a weed in various parts of the world, but particularly in Asia and Australia. In the United States, it is naturalized in the coastal states from North Carolina to Texas. It is still planted as a shade tree in California, but it has escaped sparingly there, perhaps because of the prevailingly dry climate.
The Chinese tallow tree is common in a variety of mostly moist habitats, from roadsides to mesic flatwoods and swamps. It has been recorded from counties in all parts of the state.
The camphor tree (Cinnamomum camphora), another exotic invasive species, could possibly be mistaken for the Chinese tallow tree, but its leaves are somewhat narrower, and they are three-veined from the base; in addition, its fruit is a black drupe. The Indian rosewood (Dalbergia sissoo), an exotic ornamental that rarely escapes, has compound leaves, but its leaflets are very similar in shape to the leaves of the Chinese tallow tree. But again, the fruits easily distinguish the two, with those of the rosewood looking very much like the samaras of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.). Neither of these plants has a milky sap.
Birds are attracted to the oily seeds of the Chinese tallow, and they disperse the seeds far from the parent tree. The plant also produces root suckers prolifically.
There is not general agreement as to the correct generic name for this plant (Triadica or Sapium), so we use the name as it appears in Rule 5B-57, Florida Administrative Code, where Sapium sebiferum is designated a noxious weed by the state of Florida. Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas have also designated it a noxious weed, but it has been a very useful plant in the past. The seeds produce two types of fat: a solid fat from the outer covering and a drying oil from the kernel. The fat has been used to make soap and candles, and the oil as a machine lubricant. The close-grained, white wood is favored by the Chinese for carving and furniture-making. It is also an attractive ornamental, and its leaves turn brilliant shades of red in the fall, even here in Florida where bright autumnal foliage color is a rarity. But because of its invasive tendencies, it should not be planted for any reason.