Zunyi Eucommia

Zunyi Eucommia

Zunyi Eucommia is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Zunyi is one of China’s major production regions for Eucommia. There is only one species of Eucommia, but to distinguish it from those produced elsewhere, it is named after its place of origin. Historically, Zunyi Eucommia was distributed through Sichuan and Chongqing, and was once mistakenly called “Chuan Eucommia” (Sichuan Eucommia). It was later officially renamed Zunyi Eucommia.

　　Eucommia is a deciduous, broad-leaved tree of the Eucommiaceae family. The Eucommia tree thrives in warm climates and is cold-resistant, with strong adaptability. Zunyi Eucommia can grow normally in areas ranging from 460 meters to over 1,500 meters above sea level, but it grows best in environments with abundant sunlight, plentiful rainfall, deep, fertile, and moist sandy loam soils that are slightly acidic, neutral, or slightly alkaline. The trees have a long lifespan. In Taiping Township, Green District, Zheng’an County, there are two Eucommia trees over a hundred years old with lush branches and abundant fruit. In 1984, the income from selling their seeds reached more than 700 yuan.

　　Eucommia bark is a valuable traditional Chinese medicinal material known for nourishing liver and kidney, strengthening tendons and bones, lowering blood pressure, and calming the fetus. It is classified as a top-grade herb in the Compendium of Materia Medica and is used to treat kidney deficiency, back and waist pain, weak legs, seminal emission, dribbling urination, vaginal itching, threatened miscarriage, and high blood pressure. Fresh bark can be applied externally to treat bruises, injuries, and sores. Tongzi County produces Eucommia tea from its leaves, which is sold both domestically and abroad.

　　The leaves, fruits, and bark of the Eucommia tree all contain gum. The leaves contain 3–5% gum, the fruits 10–18%, and the bark 6–10%. This is a type of hard gum with insulating, heat-resistant, acid- and alkali-resistant (except nitric acid), and corrosion-resistant properties. The wood of the Eucommia tree is tough, lustrous, and does not warp or crack, making it an excellent material for shipbuilding and furniture. The Eucommia tree is also one of China’s four major managed species of precious medicinal plants.

　　As a traditional export commodity of Guizhou Province, Eucommia has seen further market expansion in Southeast Asian countries and regions. It is gradually entering markets in Japan, the United States, Canada, and other countries. As a natural and precious medicine, it shows promising prospects.

　　In recent years, the development of Eucommia in Zunyi County has been significant. According to statistics, there are now over two million Eucommia trees, including 300,000 at Maping Township’s Eucommia forest farm, making it one of the three major bases of China National Medicinal Materials Corporation. The commercial Eucommia bark produced in Zunyi County meets the export specifications required by foreign trade departments. Each piece of bark is 33 centimeters long and 6.6 centimeters wide. The outer skin is removed, the moisture is dried out, and the result is dry, fiber-rich bark that is insect-free, hole-free, non-curled, without water stains, with a purple-red inner surface, and intact pieces. It is considered top-grade export medicinal material. Counties such as Fenggang, Renhuai, Xishui, and Tongzi purchase 3,000–5,000 kilograms of Eucommia bark annually. The annual production for the whole region exceeds 70,000 kilograms, with an export volume of around 4,000 kilograms.

　　Eucommia is a deciduous, broad-leaved tree of the Eucommiaceae family. The Eucommia tree thrives in warm climates and is drought-resistant, with strong adaptability. Zunyi Eucommia can grow normally in areas ranging from 460 meters to 1,500 meters above sea level, but it grows best in environments with abundant sunlight, plentiful rainfall, deep, fertile, and moist sandy loam soils that are slightly acidic or neutral. The trees have a long lifespan. In Taiping Township, Green District, Zheng’an County, there are two Eucommia trees over a hundred years old with lush branches and abundant fruit. In 1984, the income from selling their seeds reached more than 700 yuan. The leaves, fruits, and bark of the Eucommia tree all contain gum. The leaves contain 3–5% gum, the fruits 10–18%, and the bark 6–10%. This is a type of hard gum with insulating, heat-resistant, acid- and alkali-resistant (except nitric acid), and corrosion-resistant properties. The Eucommia tree’s wood is tough, lustrous, and does not warp or crack, making it an excellent material for building ships and crafting furniture.

　　Eucommia is a uniquely Chinese medicinal material with a long history of clinical use. Its bark nourishes liver and kidney, strengthens tendons and bones, lowers blood pressure, and calms the fetus. It is used to treat kidney deficiency, back and waist pain, weak legs, seminal emission, dribbling urination, vaginal itching, threatened miscarriage, and high blood pressure. Fresh bark can be applied externally to treat bruises and sores. Tongzi County produces Eucommia tea from its leaves, which is popular both domestically and internationally. It has now been listed as a rare plant in Volume 1 of the China Plant Red Data Book—Rare and Endangered Plants.

　　Eucommia Bark

　　Experts from China and abroad have conducted repeated and meticulous research on the components of Eucommia and discovered that it contains 17 kinds of free amino acids essential to the human body, such as threonine, methionine, isoleucine, and lysine, as well as 15 trace elements such as zinc, copper, magnesium, iron, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. Eucommia helps nourish liver and kidney, strengthen tendons and bones, clear bodily waste, enhance cellular metabolism, prevent aging of muscles and bones, balance blood pressure, break down cholesterol, reduce body fat, restore vascular elasticity, promote diuresis and clear heat, exert broad-spectrum antibacterial effects, stimulate the central nervous system, increase white blood cell counts, and boost immunity.

　　Although wild Eucommia exists in Zunyi, most of it in recent years has been cultivated artificially. The Zunyi City Eucommia forest farm has 430,000 mature Eucommia trees. Meitan County is a national production base for Eucommia. Over 20 years starting from 1960, it sowed 15,000 kilograms of seeds and planted 18.5 million seedlings, established four bases with 100,000 trees each, and had nearly 200 households planting over a thousand trees and nearly a thousand households planting over 500 trees. By 1983, the county had over ten million Eucommia trees. In 1985, it purchased 34,000 kilograms of Eucommia. Zheng’an County successfully adopted new techniques. Tianchi Medicinal Farm achieved remarkable results in winter seedling experiments in 1977. Using ridge sowing and frozen-wax sowing methods with 12.5 kilograms of seeds per mu, they obtained 50,000–60,000 seedlings. Apart from meeting local demand, the farm could supply over 4 million seedlings to other regions annually. Winter seedlings emerge uniformly, grow quickly, and have a short seedling period—transplanting is possible in less than a year, typically when seedlings reach 60–100 centimeters tall. Zheng’an County successfully tested and promoted the ring-barking regeneration technique for Eucommia, replacing the backward method of cutting down trees for bark. The process involves selecting cloudy days in April–May, making a horizontal cut below the first branch of a 15-year-old tree trunk, then making a vertical “T-shaped” cut down to about 20 centimeters above the ground, followed by another horizontal cut. The depth should be enough to cut the phloem without damaging the xylem. After removing the bark, immediately wrap the stripped area with transparent plastic film and tie it tightly at the top and bottom. After 20–30 days, when the stripped area turns light brown and the protective tissue has formed, remove the plastic film to allow new bark to regenerate. These new techniques have driven the development of Eucommia production in Zheng’an County. Currently, over 30,000 mu (about 2,000 hectares) have been planted with more than 4 million trees, including 6.45 trees with a diameter at breast height over 5 centimeters, and the annual production of commercial Eucommia bark exceeds 4,000 kilograms.