Kendyr
Apocynum pictum

Family: Apocynaceae

What it is like

Apocynum pictum is a PERENNIAL growing to 2 m (6ft) by 0.3 m (1ft in) at a fast rate. See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 5. The flowers are pollinated by Bees, Lepidoptera (Moths & Butterflies). Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid, neutral and basic (mildly alkaline) soils and can grow in saline soils. It can grow in full shade (deep woodland) semi-shade (light woodland) or no shade. It prefers moist soil.

Height (m): 2

Where it is found

Salt-barren areas, desert margins, riversides.

Central Asia - Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, western China, Mongolia

Conservation Status: This taxon has not yet been assessed

Countries/locations it is found in

Native to parts of China (Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang), Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan.

How it is used

Food

Rating: 0

Medicine

Rating: 2

The leaves yield up to 5% gum (?latex), which is used for making a medicine used as a sedative and to treat hypertension. The species has fragrant flowers and is grown as a honey plant.

Other

Rating: 3

Agroforestry Uses: The fragrant flowers are a good source of honey for bees. Other Uses: The strong bast fibres obtained from the inner bark are used in making cloth, strings, sails, fishing nests, and high-quality paper. The leaves yield up to 5% gum, which is used for making rubber. Carbon Farming: Industrial Crop: fiber. The dogbane-milkweed family Asclepias, Apocynum, Calotropis, and Trachomitum spp) has been used for fiber industrial crops for millennia with a number in cultivation as regional crops. All of these crops are dual-purpose fibres, offering bast fibres from the stem and seed fiber or ‘floss’ in the fruit pods. Many have also been identified as potential hydrocarbon crops due to high latex content. Could be integrated into various agroforestry systems rather than as monocultures.

Industrial Crop: Fiber: Clothing, rugs, sheets, blankets etc. Currently, almost none of our fiber are produced from perennial crops but could be!

Management: Hay: Cut to the ground and harvested annually. Non-destructive management systems maintaining the soil organic carbon.

Regional Crop: These crops have been domesticated and cultivated regionally but have not been adopted elsewhere and are typically not traded globally, Examples in this broad category include perennial cottons and many nuts and staple fruits.

Industrial Crop: Fiber: Clothing, rugs, sheets, blankets etc. Currently, almost none of our fiber are produced from perennial crops but could be!

Management: Hay: Cut to the ground and harvested annually. Non-destructive management systems maintaining the soil organic carbon.

Regional Crop: These crops have been domesticated and cultivated regionally but have not been adopted elsewhere and are typically not traded globally, Examples in this broad category include perennial cottons and many nuts and staple fruits.

Carbon Farming: Plants that can be a critical part of the solution to climate problems. The Carbon Farming Solution - Eric Toensmeier.

How it is grown

Species in this genus generally succeed in sun or shade in most well-drained but moisture-retentive soils. The species has fragrant flowers and is grown as a honey plant. Apocynum species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, including the mouse moth and the Queen butterfly. Climate: cold to warm temperate. Humidity: arid to semi-arid. Carbon Farming - Cultivation: regional crop. Management: hay.

Propagating it: Seed - best sown as soon as it is ripe in late summer and overwintered outdoors. The seed requires a period of cold stratification if it is to germinate well. Prick out the seedlings when large enough to handle and grow them on in a cold frame for their first winter, planting out in late spring of the following year . Division in spring just before active growth begins. Plants can also be divided in the autumn.

Best place to grow:

Habit: Perennial

Hardiness: 4-9

Growth: Fast

Soil: Light (sandy), medium, heavy (clay)

Shade: Full shade, semi-shade, no shade

Moisture: Moist

Things to keep in mind

Its other names

Local names

Dogbane or Indian hemp

Synonyms

Apocynum grandiflorum Danguy. Apocynum hendersonii Hook.f. Poacynum hendersonii (Hook.f.) Woodson. Poacynum pictum (Schrenk) Baill.