Davidia involucrata var. vilmoriniana dove tree
Davidia
The dove tree remembers a world long before the last Ice Age and yet has survived to the present day. During the Tertiary period, the climate of the Northern Hemisphere was warmer and forests looked very different from those we know today; with the onset of the Ice Ages, however, the dove tree disappeared from both the European and North American landscapes. For many decades it was known only by fossil remains, and botanists considered it extinct. A turning point came in 1869, when the French missionary and naturalist Armand David discovered living specimens in the mountain forests of Sichuan Province in western China. The discovery caused a sensation in the botanical world: a tree believed to have been lost forever was found alive. The first “export” followed in 1896, when the missionary Paul Farges sent seeds to France. A few took root, but far greater success was achieved by the legendary plant collector Ernest Henry Wilson, whose seeds collected between 1900 and 1904 and brought to Great Britain germinated readily, growing into strong trees that later proved capable of flowering. And here it is fair to say that dove tree, still a sought-after botanical rarity, teaches us patience: when grown from seed, it usually begins to flower only after 10 to 20 years, which is why breeders strive to develop cultivars with an earlier onset of flowering.
The story of vilmoriniana is a small miracle of horticultural history. It entered European cultivation thanks to the missionary Paul Farges, who in 1897 sent 37 fruits (nuts) from China to France to Maurice de Vilmorin. From the entire consignment, only a single seedling germinated in 1899, and it was from this plant that further specimens were propagated by cuttings and layering. One of these layered plants found its way to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, then a highly respected scientific and botanical centre, where the dove tree was preserved long term and subsequently introduced to a wider botanical world. It was this early European line, vilmoriniana, that proved sufficiently distinct to be described as a separate variety and named in honour of the Vilmorin family. Remarkably, the first flowers on this “Vilmorin” dove tree appeared in Europe as early as 1906, well before the species became a fashionable legend in British collections and much earlier than flowering is normally expected in the dove tree.
Vilmoriniana is a dove tree for those who appreciate a more refined and “clean” appearance. Its leaves are large, broadly heart-shaped to ovate, usually 10–15 cm long, with a clearly serrated margin that looks soft and natural rather than sharp. The upper surface is mid to dark green, smooth and slightly glossy, while the underside is typically paler, often with a faint bluish cast and completely without hairs – one of the key features that distinguishes this selection; the species of dove tree exhibits the underside at least lightly downy. Even the young shoots are smooth and at first often covered with a bluish bloom, so the whole tree looks fresh throughout the season, almost as if it had just been washed by rain. In autumn the leaves turn elegantly, not ostentatiously, into soft shades of yellow to golden yellow, and in good conditions, especially on acidic and moist soils, even into a striking scarlet and carmine red.
And when flowering time arrives – usually in May – the reason for the international name “handkerchief tree” becomes clear: two large white bracts, unequal in length, unfold around an inconspicuous green inflorescence and sway in the breeze like forgotten handkerchiefs caught in the branches. In English, the tree is more commonly referred to as the “dove tree”, since these two white bracts are likened to a pair of doves sitting opposite one another.
When young, vilmoriniana grows rather upright and regular; with age the crown broadens and the tree develops a more pronounced, spreading silhouette, which shows to best advantage where it has space around it. Size varies with conditions, but it is worth bearing in mind that in gardens it usually reaches about 8–10 metres in height and 6–8 metres in spread, while in parks and open landscapes, given ample room and deep soil, it can grow to 12–15 metres tall and 8–12 metres wide. Keeping it smaller by regular pruning is not a good approach – the natural shape is spoiled, and the tree often refuses to flower.
The dove tree does not like extremes. In the wild it grows in montane mixed forests of western and south-western China, at roughly 1,100–2,600 metres above sea level, so an ideal site is sheltered from drying winds, with deep, fertile, humus-rich soil that remains evenly moist yet well-drained. Summer drought reduces both leaf size and the bracts around the flowers, prevents autumn colouring and can make the tree age within a single season. Permanently waterlogged soil, on the other hand, is another invitation to trouble. Soil pH is not critical, but the best autumn colour has been observed on acidic soils. Hardiness is most often given as down to about –23 °C (USDA zone 6), but experience shows that in a sheltered position a tree with mature wood can withstand short-term drops to around –27 °C (USDA zone 5b), provided these are not accompanied by bare frost.
Last update 28-01-2008; 17-01-2026
