Xianning has a long history of osmanthus planting. It is recorded in historical literature that in the Warring States Period more than 2,300 years ago, when poem Qu Yuan passed Xianning, he wrote the beautiful verses of “brews wine with osmanthus” and “pursue you by an osmanthus boat.” Xianning has had the tradition of brewing osmanthus wine since 500 years ago. In Xian’an, a few thousand-year-old osmanthus trees are preserved today. In the recent years, the municipal party committee and municipal government made a clear of the strategy of giving equal stress on resource development and resource conservation in the course of developing agriculture focusing on four townships and six industries. This move has promoted the healthy development of the osmanthus industry.

1. Xianning has the best osmanthus resource in China and enjoys a nationwide reputation of a, “land of osmanthus.” The city has remained in the leading position in China in terms of five major resource indicators, including osmanthus variety, quantity of ancient trees, area of bases, output of fresh osmanthus and quality of osmanthus. Osmanthus is distributed in 45 towns and the townships of six counties and county-level cities in the city. There are nearly 30 osmanthus varieties under four major variety groups: osmamthus fragrans var. thunbergii, osmanthus fragrans Lour. f. leucanthus t. yamaz., orange osmanthus and osmanthus fragrans var. semperflorens. At present there are more than 1.5 million osmanthus trees with basal diameter of greater than 5cm, equivalent to more than 50,000mu of land. Particularly, the city has 2,000 century-old osmanthus trees, accounting for 91 percent of national total of 2,200. In 1963 and 1983, the State named Xianning as a, “land of osmanthus.” In 2000, the State again named Xian’an district as, “the only land of osmanthus in China.” By undisputable resource advantage, the city has won numerous national honors. The special survey on osmanthus indicates remarkable increase has been achieved in osmanthus area, output, output value, revenue and creation of farmer’s net income compared to 1999. The osmanthus industry has developed by leaps and bounds.

2. The cultivation technique is getting more mature and the processing of osmanthus has formed a tradition. The osmanthus seedling production areas vigorously promote sealed cutting of osmanthus and other modern seedling raising techniques. As a result, the economic benefits increased along with the people’s enthusiasm. Since the city initiated the grain-for-green program in 2001, more than 600 specialized households cultivate above 200mu of seedlings, 20 million seedlings are produced and nearly 10,000mu of new osmanthus bases are developed each year.

After the entry into 1980s, the traditional osmanthus processing industry entered a new development stage and a series of famous brands were developed. The osmanthus candy, osmanthus cake, “Ganshui” osmanthus wine, osmanthus honey wine, osmanthus extract, and other famous brands in Xian’an have won the titles of excellent products in the province or ministry. In the recent years, osmanthus rice wine, osmanthus dew and other drinking products have been developed, showing good market prospects.

3. Osmanthus seedlings have formed an industry. Xian’an District has developed osmanthus seedlings as a leading industry. Consequently, more large specialized households have emerged, the scales of the bases have enlarged, the technology content has increased and the economic benefit the industry has become obvious. In the recent years, the price of osmanthus seedlings and adult trees keeps rising. The six-year-old large seedlings may be sold at a price of more than 100 yuan. Some large trees are worth above 10,000 yuan. In the recent years, the city has sold 20,000 osmanthus trees, more than 50 million osmanthus seedlings and 900,000 kg of fresh flowers. The osmanthus tourist attractions have received above 20,000 tourists, the output value of the osmanthus industry has reached 30 million yuan, and per capita income of the specialized osmanthus households has reached 3,000 yuan. In the spring of 2003, Cao Shengjian, a technician of Guihua Town Forestry Station in Xian’an district, cultivated orange osmanthus seedlings by a cutting method. More than 100,000 yuan was earned from two mu of nursery. The average income per mu is nearly 100 times as high as that of grain and he has become a famous osmanthus seedling grower.

Osmanthus has wide use, high economic value and a broad development and utilization prospect.

1. Osmanthus is one of the bestselling trees for garden landscaping. Among the top ten flowers, osmanthus tree is the largest and most fragrant and has the densest leaves. As osmanthus is an evergreen it has a pleasant scent, integrates greening, beautification, aromatization and possesses ornamental and practical value. It has become a famous and precious tree in gardens. It sells well in Wuhan, Shanghai and other medium to large cities.

2. Osmanthus is a rare industrial material and is famous for its heavenly scent. The flowers contain various kinds of rare aromatic substances like decalactone and ionone. The osmanthus extract is sold in the international market at a price of 2,000 dollars/kg. With osmanthus as a raw material, a series of products, such as, osmanthus cakes, osmanthus paste and osmanthus wine have been developed. In addition, osmanthus also contains triacontane and carotene and has great health and medicinal value.

3. Osmanthus trees are an excellent material of high-class furniture and carvings. Osmanthus trees are as hard as rhinoceros horns and have a fine texture. They are glossy and not easily cracked or deformed. The furniture and carvings made from osmanthus trees are durable and give off its famous scent.