The waxberry tree that is over 180 years old in Taizhou's Huangyan district has been accredited as being the mother tree for domestic Dongkui waxberries. [Photo/WeChat account: tzfb001]

A waxberry tree that is over 180 years old in Taizhou's Huangyan district has been accredited as being the mother tree for domestic Dongkui waxberries, a report shows.

Qi Xingjiang, vice president of the Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that gene sequencing results had proved that Dongkui waxberries cultivated all over the country are grafted and bred from the ancestor tree in Huangyan.

The tree was found in the district in 1959 and it was in the second half of 2018 that local authorities initiated a campaign to strengthen protection on it.

The Dongkui waxberry has been dubbed the "King of Waxberries" because of its strong taste and large size, usually weighing two or three times that of an ordinary waxberry. 

Currently, waxberry plantation in Huangyan stands at 71,000 mu (4,733.3 hectares), with an annual output of more than 40,000 metric tons of waxberries, worth 450 million yuan ($69.3 million).

Among them, Dongkui waxberries make up a large part, with the harvest time ranging from mid-June to mid-to-late July, due to the different altitudes varying from 10 to 700 meters.

Waxberry plantation has become a local pillar agriculture industry and an important economic source for farmers in mountainous areas.