Trinity Tree of the month - October 2024

This month we are bringing you the Cercidiphyllum japonicum, commonly known as Katsura Tree, Candyfloss Tree or Crann Katsura in Irish. This is tree no. 276 and was planted in 1985.

The Katsura tree is native to Japan and China, it was introduced from the far west in the early 1800’s and won the Award of Golden Merit in 2002. This tree is part of the Ceridiphyllacea family, which contains a single genus and two deciduous species. This family was previously widely distributed throughout the Northern hemisphere during the Paleogene and Neogene periods. Ideally the tree should be located away from frost pockets, although it is rated to be hardy down to -10/15° so it survives well over here.

In its native habitat it can grow up to 30m in height but over here it will most likely only ever reach 18-20m with a possible crown spread of up to 10m. It forms a domed or rounded canopy generally when mature.

This tree is a joy nearly year round, with its constantly changing colour displays. This species is dioecious, meaning it has separate male and female trees. The male tree has tiny red flowers while the female produces green flowers in spring, the flowers are quite inconspicuous. Keep an eye out in springtime to see if you can notice which flowers our tree has. The female tree once pollinated will produce seed pods. In spring time the leaves which are heart shaped emerge reddish/ pinkish bronze, turning a lush green in summer finally they take on shades of orange, red and gold in the fall. One of the best features of this tree are the leaves that have scent of burnt sugar or candy floss and cinnamon that drift in the wind.

Currently this tree stands 13.5m tall with a girth of 0.9m, it stores only 167kg of carbon, they have a life expectancy of up to 150 years and could store up to 1300kg of carbon.