Rare China Doll in Mountain View
The title is a bit misleading, but I am talking about China Doll Tree, or Radermachera sinica, which is a common house plant. A friend told me about a mature tree in downtown Mountain View on Bush street near Dana. I went for a quick look a few months ago. This particular specimen is already a medium sized tree that is much higher than the two-story building next to it.
This tree is flourishing as proven by the great number of flowers blooming happily near the tree top. Maybe since they are so high up, very little fragrance was detected.
On this tree, the leaves are shiny and bipinnate, if a little rolled to not look quite like those from the pristine house plants. But for an in ground mature tree, one gets to see these bean-like fruits.
A quick check on Dave’s Garden reveals that this plant is at least root-hardy for most of the Bay Area. It just never gets mentioned as a landscape plant. There is also a dwarf cultivar that should make a perfect patio plant for the highly desirable tropical lush look.