Song Hua Fen

Song Hua Fen is the dried pollen of Pinus massoniana, P. tabuliformis, and other Chinese pines (Pinaceae) collected from the staminate cones in spring. The source trees are evergreen monoecious conifers 15–30 m tall with reddish-brown, fissured plate-bark and paired needles 10–25 cm long. Male cones are small, ovoid-cylindric, 1–1.5 cm long, clustered at the base of new shoots in dense yellow racemose groups; they shed copious bright yellow, finely powdery pollen comprising bisaccate (two-winged) grains 40–60 micrometres across, characteristic under microscopy. The collected pollen is sieved free of debris and dried; it is bright sulphur-yellow, with a faintly resinous odour and an almost insipid taste.