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.
Leaf of Koelreuteria paniculata var. paniculata
Koelreuteria paniculata is a species of flowering plant in the familySapindaceae, native to China, Korea, Outer Manchuria in Russia and Mongolia. Naturalized in Japan since at least the 1200s,[3] it was introduced in Europe in 1747, and to North 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]
It is a small to medium-sized deciduoustree growing to 7m (23ft) tall, with a broad, dome-shaped crown. The leaves are pinnate, 15–40cm (6–16in) long, rarely to 50cm (20in), with 7–15 leaflets 3–8cm 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 panicles20–40cm (8–16in) long.[10] The fruit is a three-part inflated bladderlike pod, 3–6cm long and 2–4cm broad, that is green, then ripening from orange to pink in autumn. It contains several dark brown to black seeds 5–8mm diameter.[5]
Taxonomy
Publication
The species was 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.
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