Sageretia theezans

Sageretia theezans, the Chinese sweet plum, is a graceful evergreen shrub of the buckthorn family, native to southern China, where the plant grows to some three to eight feet with fine, zigzagging branches, small glossy leaves, and a handsome flaking, multicolored trunk. New growth often emerges bronze before settling to deep green, and in the mild-winter gardens that suit the species the foliage holds the year round, giving a dense, fine-textured presence rare in so tough a plant.

The name carries the plant's oldest use. The epithet theezans means tea-like, for the leaves have long been dried and brewed as a tea substitute in southern China, and the small dark drupes that follow the flowers are sweetly edible, which earns the shrub the names Chinese sweet plum and bird plum alike. Neither leaf nor fruit is a major crop, but both root the plant in a long history of country use across its range.

In the West the Chinese sweet plum is best known as one of the classic bonsai subjects, cherished for the naturally small leaves, the ancient-looking bark, and a willingness to ramify into fine twiggy heads under regular trimming. The same qualities that make a good bonsai, small parts and dense branching, also make a fine garden shrub, and in warm climates the plant serves as an informal hedge, a low screen, or a textured specimen well beyond the bonsai bench.

Grow Sageretia theezans in sun to part shade in well-drained soil, as a clipped or informal hedge, a border shrub, or a container plant that can be moved under cover where winters turn hard. Tiny fragrant flowers open in the warm months, feeding pollinators and giving way to the sweet dark fruit, and the flaking trunk rewards a close look year round. A modest medicinal tradition sits behind the plant as well, set out in the fields below.