Hovenia dulcis or Japanese Raisin tree is a lovely deciduous shade tree that is cultivated in Japan for its fruit. Actually you eat the swollen stalks that the fruit grows on. In June the tree is covered with masses of 2-3 inch fragrant, creamy-white flowers growing in clusters. Bees, butterflies and birds love them. In September, when the thickened stalks fall to the ground, they are ripe and will have a sweet, pear-like flavor. Each stalk is small, but the tree produces bountifully. Fruit dries well (and look like raisins) keeps for months! The tree grows in all but constantly or mostly wet sites, but likes a fertile, sandy loam in full to part sun.
These seeds were harvested by me from a specimen in Washington DC and have been float tested. They're not repackaged from an online vender.
