# Chinese tallow (Triadica sebifera)

> A fast-growing tree (30-40 feet) with heart-shaped leaves that turn brilliant red and yellow in fall and white waxy seeds that look like popcorn on bare winter branches. Those good looks are why it was planted everywhere, and why it is now the worst invasive tree on the Texas coastal prairie, converting grassland and bottomland to single-species thickets. Its sap and fruit are toxic. Sale and distribution are regulated in Texas.

Source: https://treerm.org/trees/triadica-sebifera · Updated 2026-11-08 · License CC BY 4.0

## Facts

- Also called: Chinese tallow tree, Popcorn tree, Sapium sebiferum
- Family: Euphorbiaceae
- Type: Broadleaf, loses its leaves in winter
- Mature height: 12 m; spread 10 m
- Growth: Fast growing; lives about 50 years
- USDA hardiness zones: 8 to 10
- Light: Sun or part shade
- Water: Moderate water
- Soil: Clay, loam or sand; wet or dry; tolerates flooding and salt
- Native range: China and Japan; introduced to the US Gulf Coast in the 1700s for seed oil and now naturalized from Texas to North Carolina

**Benefits:** Fall color

**Watch out for:** Invasive elsewhere, Toxic parts, Messy fruit, Surface roots

## Care

Do not plant. It is on the Texas Department of Agriculture noxious and invasive plant list, which prohibits sale and distribution in Texas. Remove existing trees by cutting and immediately painting the stump with a triclopyr or glyphosate herbicide, since cut trees resprout vigorously; pull seedlings when the soil is moist. Replace with native cedar elm, Texas red oak or Mexican plum for fall color.

## Where it stands

- **Native:** China (Native to China and Japan)
- **Invasive:** United States (Texas Invasives and NC State report it established in AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NC, SC and TX, and recently in CA); FL, United States (Florida Department of Agriculture lists it as a noxious weed (Sapium sebiferum), per the USDA National Invasive Species Information Center); NC, United States (Listed as invasive by the NC Invasive Plant Council (per NC State Extension Plant Toolbox)); TX, United States (Listed in the Texas Invasives (texasinvasives.org) plant database. Marked as a TDA noxious weed and listed in the Invasive Plant Atlas; range covers the southeastern US from Texas to Florida and North Carolina to Arkansas.)
- **Prohibited:** TX, United States (On the Texas Department of Agriculture Noxious and Invasive Plant List (4 TAC 19.300(a)), under both the noxious and invasive headings; Texas regulates the sale, distribution and importation of listed plants)

## Sources

- https://plants.usda.gov/plant-profile/TRSE6
- https://www.texasinvasives.org/plant_database/detail.php?symbol=TRSE6
- https://texasagriculture.gov/Regulatory-Programs/Plant-Quality/Noxious-and-Invasive-Plants
- https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/triadica-sebifera/
- https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/chinese-tallow
- https://www.fs.usda.gov/database/feis/plants/tree/triseb/all.html