ArborNote’s Tree of the Week was selected by our software head, Jae Kim! He queried the ArborNote database to find the rarest tree, and found the Japanese Raisin Tree (Hovenia dulcis), which has only been inventoried one time at the UCLA botanical gardens! It is native to Asia, from Eastern China and Korea to the Himalayas. It is prized for its edible, sweet-tasting flower stalks and traditional medicinal value. Even though it’s called the raisin tree, the actual small, pea-sized fruit isn’t the main attraction; instead, the branching flower stalks (peduncles) swell, turn reddish-brown, and become fleshy. Traditionally, they are eaten fresh, dried like raisins, or used to make natural candies and sweet drinks/wine. Extracts from the tree’s stems, leaves, and bark contain dihydromyricetin, which is used in Asian herbal medicine to support liver health and act as a natural hangover remedy!