Koelreuteria bipinnata var. apiculata (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) F.C.How & C.N.Ho
Koelreuteria chinensis (L.) Hoffmanns.
Koelreuteria japonica Hassk.
Koelreuteria paniculata var. apiculata (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) Rehder
Koelreuteria paniculata var. fastigiata Bean
Koelreuteria paniculata f. fastigiata (Bean) Rehder
Koelreuteria paniculata var. lixianensis H.L.Tsiang
Koelreuteria paniculata f. miyagiensis H.Ohashi & Yu.Sasaki
Koelreuteria paullinoides L'Hér.
Paullinia aurea Radlk.
Sapindus chinensis L.
Sapindus sinensis J.F.Gmel.
Koelreuteria paniculata is a
species of
flowering plant in the
family Sapindaceae,
native to China. Naturalized in Korea and Japan since at least the 1200s,[3] it was introduced in Europe in 1747, and to America in 1763, and has become a popular landscape tree worldwide.[4][5] Common names include goldenrain tree,[6][7]pride of India,[8]China tree,[9] and the varnish tree.[7]
Description
It is a small to medium-sized
deciduoustree growing to 7 m (23 ft) tall, with a broad, dome-shaped crown. The
leaves are
pinnate, 15–40 cm (6–16 in) long, rarely to 50 cm (20 in), with 7–15 leaflets 3–8 cm long, with a deeply serrated margin; the larger leaflets at the midpoint of the leaf are sometimes themselves pinnate but the leaves are not consistently fully bipinnate as in the related Koelreuteria bipinnata.[3]
The
flowers are yellow, with four petals, growing in large terminal
panicles 20–40 cm (8–16 in) long.[10] The
fruit is a three-part inflated bladderlike pod, 3–6 cm long and 2–4 cm broad, that is green, then ripening from orange to pink in autumn. It contains several dark brown to black
seeds 5–8 mm diameter.[5]
Taxonomy
Publication
First published in 1772, in the 1771 edition of Novi commentarii academiae scientiarum imperialis Petropolitanae, attributed to
Erik Laxmann.[2][11]
K. paniculata var. paniculata. Northern China and Korea. Leaves single-pinnate.
K. paniculata var. apiculata (Rehder & E.H.Wilson) Rehder (syn. K. apiculata).[12] Western China (
Sichuan), intergrading with var. paniculata in central China. Leaves with larger leaflets commonly bipinnate.
K. paniculatavar. fastigiata. Small growing columnar form originated in 1888.[13]
K. paniculata var. variegata. a form with variegated foliage.[13]
It is popularly grown as an
ornamental tree in
temperate regions all across the world because of the aesthetic appeal of its flowers, leaves and seed pods. Several
cultivars have been selected for garden planting, including 'Fastigiata' with a narrow crown, and 'September Gold', flowering in late summer.
^Sargent, Charles (1916). Plantae Wilsonianae : An enumeration of the woody plants collected in western China for the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University during the years 1907, 1908, and 1910 by E. H. Wilson. Cambridge (Mass): University Press. pp. 191–193.