Rice paper origami2/28/2024 ![]() Often you’ll see different leaf shapes on the same branch. The leaves can be entire and heart-shaped or bear one to many lobes. Paper mulberry is deciduous with highly variable foliage. ![]() The leaves of paper mulberry are highly variable. Even so, this plant has been used to make paper and cloth for over 2,000 years, meaning it is considered the very first source of true paper. Today it is a popular craft paper and is also used to make parasols and lamp shades. The fiber is derived from the bark of the tree only after a long and laborious process. It first began arriving in the Occident as bagging material for rice, so the name “rice paper” essentially means “the paper used to package rice”. The history of this kind of rice paper is somewhat different. The Other Rice Paper Plant Paper mulberry ( Broussonetia papyrifer): note the variable leaves.īut the story doesn’t end there, because there is another shrub or small tree that also produces so-called rice paper: Broussonetia papyrifera! It’s most often called paper mulberry and indeed, it is from the mulberry family (Moraceae). The rice paper plant will grow under almost any conditions, but prefers sun to partial shade and well-drained soils. That’s why people who grow it usually wait until the end of winter to do any pruning: by then. Also the reddish hairs that cover the stems and the new leaves cause considerable irritation if inhaled or even just handled. If the appearance and history of this plant attracts you and you’d like to try growing it, be forewarned that it’s quite a thug, producing long vagabond rhizomes that often pop up far from the mother plant. It won’t bloom under such conditions though. In zones 6 and 7, it act as a die-back shrub or, if you prefer, a giant perennial, losing both stems and leaves to the cold, but sprouting anew each spring from its roots. ![]() In the colder parts of zone 8, although its stems survive the winter, it will lose its leaves, with new ones appearing in spring. In such a climate, its leaves will be evergreen and it blooms readily, producing terminal clusters of fuzzy white flowers. In zones 9 to 11, as well as in warmer parts of zone 8, it is fully hardy and can be grown as an outdoor shrub. In warmer ones, it doesn’t need a greenhouse and can be seen outdoors. ![]() At least, you’ll see it in greenhouses in cold climates. Because of its size, though, you’re more likely to see it in the greenhouses of botanical gardens than in private homes. The rice paper plant can be grown as a houseplant if you have plenty of space (it can easily reach 20 feet/7 m in height and 6 feet/2 m in diameter!) and excellent atmospheric humidity. The leaves vaguely recall those of a close relative, the schefflera ( Schefflera actinophylla) and indeed both belong to the Araliaceae or aralia family, but are even more like those of the castor bean plant ( Ricinus communis), which is in no way related and belongs to an entirely different family, the Euphorbiaceae. The rice paper plant is a very striking plant because of its huge palmately-lobed leaves that measure from 1 to 2 feet in diameter (up to 3 feet in the case of the cultivar ‘Steroidal Giant’!). Rice paper plant ( Tetrapanax papyrifer). Knowing nothing about the paper other than that it came from China, where rice is the main cereral grain, Europeans assumed that it was made from rice and began calling it rice paper.īy the time the actual origin of the plant became known, it was too late to change common usage and its paper is still called rice paper to this day, although specialists distinguish it from other rice papers by calling it pith paper, since it is made from the pith found inside the branches of the plant. They quickly became very popular as home decorations. What happened is that, in the late 19 th and early 20 th century, paintings began arriving in Europe from China that were painted on an unknown paper. It certainly looks nothing like true rice ( Oryza sativa), which is a grass. Its botanical name is Tetrapanax papyrifer and it’s a tall, unbranching shrub or small tree. Yes, there is a plant known as the rice paper plant. The Rice Paper Plant 19th century painting on “rice paper”. Surprise! The rectangles of translucent white paper frequently used in origami, calligraphy, painting and other handicrafts and sold in art material stores under the name “rice paper” are not made of rice at all, but are rather derived from one of two shrubs. Yes, it’s called rice paper, but it contains not a smidgen of rice.
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