Scientific Name : Sapindus saponaria L.
Common Name : Soap Berry
Chinese Name : 無患子，木患子, 肥皂果
Family : SAPINDACEAE
Local distribution status : Native species
| Origin | Native to tropical and subtropical America. The tree is currently inhabited in China, Japan, Korea and India. |
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| Vitality | It's good for tolerance to arid soils, hot and cold environments. |
| Application |
Soap Berry has been exploited for multiple medicinal and hygienic merits. The fruit peels after drying are the primary source of a traditional Chinese medicine, Wu Huan Zi Pi, which shows wonderful effects on relieving heat, phlegm and cough. The roots are processed into Wu Huan Shu Qiang that can expel persisted internal and external heat. The rich-saponin fruit peels are antibacterial and lathery when rubbed with water. Therefore, they were always used for personal hygiene and washing clothes before the pervasiveness of detergents, shampoos and soaps. Soap Berry is certainly one of the urban trees par excellence in respect of its dense foliage and decorative blossoms. As a street tree, it can provide an unexpectedly wonderful shading effect. As an ornamental tree, when blooming, the tree is blanketed in extremely glamorous white blossoms which carpet the ground in endless snow after shedding. |
| Meanings of name | The generic name Sapindus is a blend of the Latin words Sapo (soap) and indus (India or River Indus), collectively meaning Indian soap. The specific epithet saponaria and the common name 'Soap Berry' refer to its soap-bearing fruits. |
| Growing habit | Deciduous tree. |
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| Height | To 20 m. |
| Stem | Bark greyish brown or blackish brown, smooth, peeling off in flakes. Young branches green, glabrous, lenticellate. |
| Leaves | Paripinnately compound alternate, leaflets 5-8 pairs, opposite or subopposite. Rachis grooved adaxially, glabrous or pilosulose. Blade thinly papery, narrowly elliptic-lanceolate or slightly falcate, base cuneate, slightly oblique, margin entire, hairless on both sides, lateral veins dense, slender. |
| Flower | Thyrse monecious. Panicles terminal. Flowers small, pubescent, petal 5, actinomorphic, milky. |
| Fruit | Fertile schizocarps orange, subglobose, 1-seed, black and wrinkled when dry. Infertile schizocarps 1-2, bearing at the apex of the fertile schizocarp. |
| Flowering period | March to May in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | June to December in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website :
https://herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=2877
Scientific names from other databases :
― Flora of China : Sapindus saponaria Linnaeus
― Plant of the World Online : Sapindus saponaria L.