Yellowhorn / Yellow Horn / Goldenhorn / Xanthoceras sorbifolium (was Xanthoceras sorbifolia )

Yellowhorn ( Xanthoceras sorbifolium, formerly sorbifolia ) is another one of those commonly-mentioned permaculture trees that you see in ambitious food forest planting lists. But on Permies.com at least, we never see posts from people who are happily harvesting them of their edible flowers, foliage, or nuts. My purpose in starting this thread is to bring together the scattered information I've found about this tree. I'm also currently working on germinating some seeds from eBay, so I may update the thread in future with photos and impressions if that goes well. Anyone with impressions of the tree or experience harvesting it, please share!



According to Wikipedia:

Xanthoceras sorbifolium (yellowhorn, shiny leaf yellowhorn, goldenhorn, Chinese flowering chestnut) is a woody perennial in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, native to northern China in the provinces of Gansu, Hebei, Henan, Liaoning, Nei Monggol, Ningxia, Shaanxi, and Shandong.

It is a large shrub or small tree growing to 8 m tall. The fruit is an oval leathery capsule 5–6 cm diameter, which splits into three sections at maturity to release the 6–18 seeds; the seeds are black, 1.5 cm diameter, resembling a small horse chestnut seed.

The genus name means 'yellow horn'. The species name refers to the leaves, similar to those of rowans (Sorbus). It was originally spelled as sorbifolia, but this is a grammatical error that was corrected to sorbifolium under the ICBN.

The leaves, flowers, and seeds of yellowhorn are all edible.

There's been one previous thread on Permies, but only one poster reported having a mature tree, which was not making nuts.

Plants For A Future has a page here, and puts it in USDA hardiness zones 4-7. Propagation notes suggest the plant needs some cold protection when young.

Germination advice is all over the map. Some reports call for cold stratification up to three months, others report germination rates in excess of fifty percent without stratification. Presoaking and scarification of the nut are frequent suggestions also.

This nice photo of the fruit is from a 2004 thread on the forums of the UBC botanical gardens:



Notably absent from my research was much enthusiasm by anyone for actually eating the products of this tree. It's uncertain whether the edible parts are unappealing, or whether it's just that nobody much among the sources I found have any experience with those crops.

What do you know about Yellowhorn? Please share experiences and informative links!

That is an interesting looking piece of flora.

I would be curious to see what all those "edible" portions of the tree taste like. I'm also interested in how your seeds do on this one and what you did to get yours going, IE scarification/stratification.

Bill I will keep you updated!

I only have about nine or so seeds and so for this first attempt, I followed the very specific germination advice found on this page, which also claims that (yum!) the nuts taste like Macademia nuts:

Propagation is by seed soaked for 24 hours (sometimes 48 hours is necessary) and gently nicking the seed coat near the pore, slowly shaving it away until you see the barest glimmer of white, being very careful not to cut the embryo. Re-soak for 12 hours and sow in moist peat / sand / perlite mix. Germination will usually occur in 4 - 7 days.

I soaked three seeds for 48 hours, then worked on the (very tough) seed coat. Given the difficulty of "nicking" the coat with the blade I was using, it was more like a precision sawing process. I may have nicked the embryo in one case, I almost certainly did in another, and I got it just right (faint glimmer of white) on the third one. They went into my seeding sowing mix yesterday.

So, multiple trees are needed for nut propagation, and I do like me some macadamia nuts - even if it is only "tastes like".

Now I'm wondering how this would work around here for me. Need to make sure the Bride won't eviscerate me for bringing another seed group into the house.

I'll wait for your germination results and we'll go from there.

I got seeds from FW Schumacher this fall, I attempted to nick/soak 4 of them, only one sprouted, but the remaining seeds look ok. I'll be trying to start more once spring comes.
Here's a picture of the one seedling, it's the feathery looking guy on the left, quite robust for a few week old seedling. The black locusts were started at the same time.
I had bought a small seedling from burnt ridge last year, but I think it arrived dead.
Looking forward to seeing how this tree grows.

Thanks for the picture and the news that it can be done! I am tempted to taste one of my tiny number of existing seeds to see if it really does taste like a Macademia nut. But one does not eat the seed corn, right?

By the way, does someone know what time it takes the plants to go from seed to nut?
So I have a couple of 1.5' tall Xanthoceras on this photo. I also have 40 more germinating right now On my first batch I dug out all the ones that didn't germinate, and nicked them again, and back in the peet. Some took longer than others but they kinda all germinated. You have to nick them pretty severly (without hurting the embryo too much). I use a very sharp chef knife and cut out small strips until I see a good portion of white (2-3 mm) . No stratification. Apparently it helps but so far, the nicking works very well. I germinated them with a 18/6 light cycle.

I grew it for about 8 years. The flowers were small and cute. I never ate them because I was hoping to get a crop. I never did. I live in an area with pretty low heat units. I have heard that you need a lot of heat. Oklahoma might work; I don't know how hardy they are though. That's not an issue for us with that tree. The leaves were fibrous and not tasty. Now I ferment, and so maybe I wouldve kept it. Still, probably not worth the space I was allotting to it. We have wet springs, and there are kinds of bush cherries that never fruit for us, because they get a mild disease that makes the fruit drop. That may have been the case with this one. My verdict: not worth growing on the west side of the PNW, especially if you have limited space.
John S
PDX OR

i thought about trying to grow these, as someone offered them in a trade, but what research i did indicated to me i am not in a good climate for these. maybe they like heat, but they wouldnt do in our dry too hot heat, and it doesnt get cold enough in the winter for these, my research led me to believe. the trees are BEAUTIFUL, seriously gorgeous in flower.

I was able to get a hold of some seeds from a plant growing outside for many years here in Utah, if you would believe that. Since the tree is mature and producing, I was able to eat some of the nuts as well as gather plenty to plant. The seeds kind of taste like macadamia nuts, but there are only slight similarities. They are much softer in texture than most nuts.. almost waxy. The unripe nuts are quite bitter, and the shell is very tough and leathery, not crispy or brittle. A normal nutcracker doesn't seem to do well to open them but mostly only mangles the seed. I think they have more of a sunflower seed texture than nut texture, but they are sweetish and definitely palatable in general. As for eating flowers, not really my cuppa, and the leaves tend to be too veiny and leathery to really make any kind of palatable salad or to eat plain. I would imagine that the new growth may be more palatable, but I can't bring myself to mar such a unique specimen to try it.
Since it is the only plant of its kind anywhere in the vicinity (and probably the only one in the northern Utah) it seems to be a. self fertile, and b. quite prolific (most years). We are a solid USDA Zone 5 where it is growing and it seems to be pest and problem free. It is tending toward being more of a small multi-trunk tree, though my seed grown specimens are very slender and vertical so far (1 year old) and I plan on keeping them trained in a standard. Since the tree is way smaller than most nut trees, even with many fruit covering the plant, the yield will be fairly small in comparison to, say a walnut or pecan, so planting multiple may be the way to go for more nuts.
If you are interested in more research on these trees, there is quite a lot of info written in Chinese on these plants. The current use for them being explored in China seems to be Biodiesel and there are some really cool photos of double flowers and different colors, but the plants are not being grown for ornamental or food usage from what I have been able to find. Most of the info is either scientific papers or industrial energy web pages.

Sorry for the long post but hopefully it is helpful to someone =)

Thanks for the useful info Sion.
John S
PDX OR

Bought Yellowhorn seeds from Schumaker and Shefeilds last year with no results, ended up buying some seeds on Ebay from France they did not germinate till later in spring when it got hot. This year I bought seeds through Aliexpress.com the seeds came from China where they are grown as a crop. I soaked in warm water for 48 hrs, had 2 batches one sanded the other nicked both germinated after 2 wk. Planted in a platic shoe box with lid sitting on a grow pad to heat the soil. So far only 3 have germinated out of 88

If this helps anyone looking for seeds (especially in Canada) - I got mine last fall from this seller. Out of 12 seeds, only 2 did not germinate. I used a piece of sandpaper to gently nick the seeds, then popped them in a plastic container with a moist paper towel, and shoved them in the fridge. They were germinating within 4-6 weeks. As soon as the first one germinated, I took the whole container out to make the process faster, and was planting them as germination was occurring. They're growing indoors now, seem to do really well - I've never seen a tree grow that fast from a seed. They do seem to like deep soil - I have mine planted in tall buckets, 2-3 plants per bucket, until it's summer time outside.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Yellowhorn-Xanthoceras-sorbifolium-Tree-Seeds-Showy-Hardy-Fall-Color-/270736778449?

Think when I planted seed, got a pound from lawyer nursery, they seemed to germinate pretty easily like most nuts I have tried. When I transplant them to their permanent spots, left behind roots sometimes will sprout up and give me more plants.

I grow trees as a hobby and sell them from my dooryard. Looking for seeds my wife noticed the tree on the internet and its showy flowers. Doing research I found they are 75% oil and make a good biofuel.I will be trying to plant them out on my property to see how they grow and investigate how they would be as a crop. Other plants used for biofuel like corn have to be replanted every year, the Yellowhorn produces a nus that can be collected everyyear..

Well that's if they are productive every year. I think hazelnuts are mentioned for the oil, too.

Along with many others, I'm very interested in nut trees that can produce in the Far North. Hazelberts are growing, but not yet producing any nuts. We don't know if they will be able to in the short season. But as the climate changes, who knows what will work or not. Korean pines are started, but those are for someone's grandchildren.I just ordered some Yellowhorn plants from Burnt Ridge Nursery (WA). Hope they produce.

My germination effort last year was an utter failure -- none of the half-dozen Ebay seeds I planted germinated. I just now scarified and planted my last four seeds, we'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile I am really interested in the 100-seeds-for-$17 deal direct from China via the AliBaba link posted up thread. Next time I get a spare $17 I may well make that order.

I just found out about this plant this year from a nursery I order from frequently www.whiffletreefarmandnursery.ca and was super excited.
I don't have enough sun in my yard for it but have ordered it bareroot for my parent's place this spring. Hopefully we get some fruit in a couple of years. I will share here when we do. Fingers crossed for the macadamia flavour to be strong in ours.

I planted two yellowhorns from Burnt Ridge Nursery 3 years ago.  One died the first summer, the other winterkilled to the ground the first winter.  However, I left it alone and that survivor resprouted into a multi-stemmed tree/large shrub; today it is 6 ft tall.  It flowered last year, but the few pods fell off when only marble-sized.  This year, one pod did mature fully; I just picked it yesterday as it was starting to dry and split so as not to lose any nuts.

I'm 30 min. south of Minneapolis, MN, in the country with no heat island effect here so we're still a zone 4 (lucky city dwellers are zone 5A).  My particular tree is therefore self-fruitful and hardy to at least -22F.  However, I am thinking it would be more fruitful if there were another one nearby, so I'll be germinating the dozen seeds I got for new specimens next spring to incorporate into my edible windbreak/living snow fence on the north side of my property.

Question: Should I consider pruning off the smaller branches to grow it as a single-stemmed tree, or leave it as a 4-5 stemmed tree/shrub thing?  I'm not so much focused on the look of the plant, only it's health and bearing ability.

S Usvy wrote:If this helps anyone looking for seeds (especially in Canada) - I got mine last fall from this seller. Out of 12 seeds, only 2 did not germinate. I used a piece of sandpaper to gently nick the seeds, then popped them in a plastic container with a moist paper towel, and shoved them in the fridge. They were germinating within 4-6 weeks. As soon as the first one germinated, I took the whole container out to make the process faster, and was planting them as germination was occurring. They're growing indoors now, seem to do really well - I've never seen a tree grow that fast from a seed. They do seem to like deep soil - I have mine planted in tall buckets, 2-3 plants per bucket, until it's summer time outside.
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Yellowhorn-Xanthoceras-sorbifolium-Tree-Seeds-Showy-Hardy-Fall-Color-/270736778449?

Interesting that they need to be in the fridge to germinate. Thanks.

Jc Desj wrote:By the way, does someone know what time it takes the plants to go from seed to nut?
So I have a couple of 1.5' tall Xanthoceras on this photo. I also have 40 more germinating right now On my first batch I dug out all the ones that didn't germinate, and nicked them again, and back in the peet. Some took longer than others but they kinda all germinated.

Thanks for the information on how to germinate.
Has anyone had any nuts yet? Are they really tasty?
I am interested in getting some seed.
I am in Australia.
Wondering if there are non US sources of seed?
Any CA sources?

I have no esperience with this tree. Generally, if seed are fresh they might germinate without stratification. Nurseries often use strong acids, but a vinegar solution might do the trick too.

I bought a 0.25lb of seed in 2015 from Sheffield's. I live in southern Saskatchewan, Can. Zone 2,3 4??? (the world is changing!!). Would not have considered growing yellowhorn in my area but Sheffield's seed source at the time originated in Mongolia. I soaked the seeds in water for a couple of days, drained and placed in a plastic bag in the refrigerator for 2 months. They germinated very rapidly in a high percentage once removed from the cold. I direct planted the germinated seeds on a open exposed site.

Was just checking my seedlings (April 9) and although too early to be 100% certain, a small nick in the bark of several seedling showed bright green tissue to the very tip despite temperatures dropping to -35C (-30F) last winter. Although a little premature I am certain the seedlings are fine.  Will provide an update in a month or so but am very optimistic. Generally a winter killed planted will be rusty brown under the bark.

Off topic but other oddball plants (for my area) I planted last year included Colorado Pinyon pine (definitely survived!) and shagbark hickory and American chestnut, both of which I think also survived well. Butternut, black walnut, Korean pine in my area are fully hardy.  Tree crop advocates (or nuts as I prefer!) get experimenting with new plantings. Be aware of the importance of seed source.  I believe plant hardiness data from even a couple of decades ago is obsolete in many areas. We need food producing tree crops!

Yellowhorns definitely survived winter in southern Saskatchewan. Although the plants were small, last winter had very little snow and the plants were exposed for most of the winter.

My chestnuts were a bust but >90% of the shagbark hickory survived.

Burnt Ridge nursery has Yellowhorn seedlings now. Has anyone since tried the nuts or any other parts of the Yellowhorn tree? Like some of the original posters, I haven't seen much of anything written by those who have eaten the nuts or any other parts. I've read a few times that they do in fact taste like macademia nuts, but another writer says that they hate the flavor and this isn't true

newb to the site. have had Xanthoceras for around 10yrs and being a single plant it has never produced. this year after planting a hybrid Red Horsechestnut i have one fruit/pod. I recall reading at some point that while Xanthoceras Sorbifolia is in a world unto itself that it was "closely related" to either Horsechestnut or Buckeye. (i do not remember which) Since my ornamental is a Aesculus × Carnea im just wondering if there is some chance of this being the pollen source. ive finally gotten my Yellowhorn a partner so in a year or two there should be some legit/fertile seeds. I am just wondering how it managed to put on a fruit this year. I am anxious for fall to pop it open and see if its just an empty pod.

The mount Joy public orchard says it has one , in Portland, Maine.  If I pass by again in summer I'll check it out and post.

2 years later and after some extreme weather, record drought and extreme cold (-40C), most of mine are still alive although growing very slowly. They are in an old field and receive absolutely no care. Next year I will start giving them more attention as they appear to be able to survive in my harsh northern plains environment.

How do I get my hands on some seed?! I've been looking for some zone for fruit/nut trees!

I bought mine from Sheffield's Seeds in NY. No issue getting them across the border. They are selling a different source now. Mine came from Mongolia.

very interested in these as a cooking oil/biofuel/pig feed crop

the biggest drawbacks iv seen is very inconsistent nut production

biggest reason im going to try them is 80 percent oil b weight, and supposedly up to 800 liters of oil per acre in zone 5/6!

I’m in NE Oklahoma. Zone 6a, in a creek-bottom where we often get late freezes. I have 3 Yellowhorn shrubs. About 7 years old & 5-7 ft tall. They get full sun. They get higher than average moisture because they’re near our well house. And our average here in NE Oklahoma is higher than you’d guess. They bloom profusely every spring, but I haven’t had a single nut from them yet. I believe I got these bareroot from Lawyer & I got seed from them, too. I’m thinking I may pull these 3 (where they have prime real estate) & try again from seed somewhere less useful. I had high hopes for them—dang!

Ashley Cottonwood wrote:How do I get my hands on some seed?! I've been looking for some zone for fruit/nut trees!

If you would like a BC source, I bought seed last fall from curlyfrogfarm(.com). 12 germinated, after scarification; not outstanding, but OK. Zero germinations in the 1/4 of the nuts that I left unscarified. I'm going to scarify these ones soon, soak the lot in warm water, and put on a heat mat, to see if more will germinate; it could be that the low 20s in a warm window ledge is marginal for germinating them.

Twining Vine Garden also sells seed, and has pictures of scarification... which I had not seen when I did mine, I only did a tiny spot on each..

Treeeater nursery sells seedlings.

Just had some seeds arrive, bought on Ebay. Exciting! If we don't like the taste, well, we can always use it for lamp oil...

While in Washington State, I had a lovely Yellowhorn that I purchased from Burnt Ridges Nursery.  Beautiful tree, wants to send out multiple trunks but I kept it groomed as a single-trunk tree.  I harvested new shoots of both the leaves and the flower buds, both edible and very good to me.  The flower buds remind me of asparagus, the leaf shoots more like a green with some bitterness but in a good way.  I only had one tree but had plenty of nuts.  I have walnuts, an almond tree, and hazelnuts and there are black walnuts and horse chestnuts in the vicinity.  Not sure if any of these might be responsible for some level of cross pollination?  Regardless, I did not like the nuts very well.  Although the husks are easy to remove by hand, the kernels (about the size of a chick pea / garbonzo bean)  are protected by a hard thin black shell much like the shell protecting pine nuts.  I could easily crack the shell but the nut meat wouldn't come free of the shell easily.  I tried eating them raw and roasted.  Neither was very flavorful.  A little bitterness, but without much other flavor to speak of.  I've heard they're high in oil.  Maybe but that wasn't my goal, I was looking for a snackable nut.  

I have moved to Oklahoma and am looking for a 1-2' Yellowhorn to plant in my yard.  Seems like everyone is out of stock / discontinued.  It's only March, but maybe I was too slow.

I have been trying to establish Yellowhorn here in the DFW area of Texas for the past 4 - 5 years. Couple general things. I have not had any major issues germinating them in short order. I do a good size nick on the seed coat, soak  in water for 24 hours and plant. Usually in 1-2 weeks they sprout. Got seed from several different sources and the worst germination was maybe 40%. You do not need to chill these first in my experience. Have not tried growing without nicking the seed coat. They grow slow. Once they spout into a 6 inch starter tree they are done for the year and it will be next summer before more growth. By about 3 years the tree may be 1-2 feet depending on growing conditions, and whether it is a single stem tree or shrub, seems you can train either way. 100 degree hot dry summer her are common. The heat does not seem to be an issue. Some I have watered regularly, others I planted on slopes that get less attention but got varying amounts of rain with gaps of a few weeks with no rain. Either seems fine.

The problem I am having is sudden death, or sudden die back. Supposedly these are relatively pest free. So I keep trying, they keep dying back or dying and not coming back. This summer one had the top half die back but the lower part of the tree did not. I can't see anything obvious  as to the cause, not that I am an expert that can tell though. Didn't dig up and look at roots cause I hoped it would come back the next year. Anyway, I had started a new plant from seed inside under grow lights and that one suddenly lost all its leaves and stems even though it was in a more controlled growth condition. I have one tree on a slope that is healthy, is now 3 years old and about 2 feet high. I have others that have resprouted from roots from a previous season die back to the ground, but these too experience total or partial die back. So either there is a bug pest here, or some sort of disease but except for one tree (so far), I have had die back issues. I thought it was too damp in the spring one season. So did a slope and didn't water  much (one the potted one indoors), lots of die back. They do not seem to mind the very hot Texas summers, I do not see signs of water stress during high heat and dry conditions. They do not die during the sometimes persistent, heavy spring rains. So doesn't seem to be a water or heat issue. Some pest. And when it dies back, it is quick. Great looking one day then yellowing and dropped all leaves by 2 weeks.

So for my one healthy 3 year old plant, it flowered this summer, I had frozen pollen from another plant, pollinated, it produced a peach sized fruit and I got 10 nuts. Other plants that got to this size and a bit larger flowered but did not fruit. I tried eating some of the nuts. I must say I am not seeing descriptions posted online about their taste that resemble what I get. I roast these cause I don't know if you can eat them raw. You can get slightly different tastes based on roasting time. Doesn't taste like macadamia's. Macadamia's have that kind of subtle sweet taste. That is not it. Texture is not like macadamia's either. With proper roasting time it has a taste midway between maybe a cashew and hazelnut. The texture of the nut after roasting is softer than these other nuts though. There can be a hint of bitterness in the after taste. Also if you over roast them you can get a bit of a bitter-burnt taste so you want to lightly roast and not brown them. I had tried some nuts I bought from someone else's tree of unknown ripeness. I noted more bitter after taste with these. Either not ripe or variation from my tree. In this instance I washed the seed kernel in water before roasting and that took a lot of the bitterness away. So there might be some saponins on the surface of the kernel that can be washed off. So my verdict on Yellowhorn nut taste: with ripe nuts, roasted very lightly it tastes pretty much like a decent nut. But more in the vein of hazels or cashews. It lacks the  tannin type taste I get from Walnuts and pecans. It lacks the sweetness of a macadamia. It is a softer texture though sort of like sunflower.

As far as how productive they are as trees I can't seem to get to that point as I keep getting this die back. This happened with seeds I germinated myself, or trees I have got from nurseries that were about 2 years old when I planted. I can't see insects of any kind on leaf or stem, don't see some obvious virus or fungus on the trees. And again, got seeds or trees from different sources, planted indifferent locations far apart. My one 3 year old that just fruited looks perfectly healthy, is on  a slope, we got regular rain over the summer every few weeks and I only water it if it has been like 3 weeks or so of high heat and no rain. This one looks fine. The others in the back which are root sprouts from another 3 year old that died to the ground, themselves are getting some die back.

So if I can get these things to grow into larger trees they seem like a good nut tree for Texas. They seem to do well in the Texas heat, survive freezing winter, do well in dry conditions, 3 months of 95-100 degrees seems no big problem. Note in my part of Texas the soil is a bit better than the rest of the state, I have neutral pH soil, no clay gumbo like other areas, so that shouldn't be an issue. Maybe a bug is munching roots, or some fungus maybe,or maybe something is happening above ground that is not obvious. If anyone has ideas let me know. If you can get the tree to grow, and get nuts, it does seem worth it. Just don't expect macadamia's, they aren't.

if any one is growing this in PA let me know, i'm very interested!