''Koelreuteria bipinnata'', also known as Chinese flame tree, Chinese golden rain tree, Bougainvillea golden-rain tree, is a species of ''

Koelreuteria ''Koelreuteria'' , also known as chinese lantern tree, is a genus of three species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae, native to southern and eastern Asia. They are medium-sized deciduous trees growing to tall, with spirally arranged ...

'' native to southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It is a small to medium-sized

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing between 7–20 metres tall. It is few branched and is one of the few trees that bloom in summer. The tree can live 50 to 150 years.

Description

The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are alternate, bipinnately compound leaves; with an ovate shape and a pinnate venation, they have a green color which turns yellow in fall, leavelets measuring between 5–10 cm long. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are small and yellow with a touch of red at the base, with four petals, produced in large branched panicles that are 20–50 cm long. They are showy and have a pleasant fragrance. They flower in the summer from July to August, more northerly, in middle Europe, in September. Flowers are hermaphroditic, having both male and female organs. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

is a three-lobed inflated papery capsule that is 3–6 cm long, of a faint reddish colour, showy, containing several hard, nut-like seeds which are 5–10 mm in diameter with a pink color. The bark is thin and brown. Branches are upright growing, bend down somewhat as the tree grows, they might break due to poor collar formation, pruning is required to build a strong branching structure and a single stem, if wished, and also for the pedestrians and vehicles clearance if necessary. The tree is characterized as a weak wooded tree.

History and location

The tree is native to Southern China; its discovery is credited to Delavay who collected it in

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

in 1886.

How to grow them

They tolerate nutritionally poor soil including: clay, sand, well drained alkaline loam; they require full sun but not a lot of watering. They tolerate wind, air pollution, aerosol salt (spray), heat, and drought. They grow moderately and are sometimes fast growers.

Pests and diseases

''Koelreuteria bipinnata'' has few to no pests or disease threatening it. The bark of the tree can develop a canker disease under certain cultural conditions.

Uses

''Koelreuteria bipinnata'' is commonly used as a focal point in landscape design in regions where they thrive; it is often used as a tree at street, highways, parking lots, for shade, garden or specimen tree. The seeds are used as beads in necklaces and the flowers can yield a yellow dye.

References

Koelreuteria bipinnata infoKoelreuteria bipinnata Chinese Flame-TreeChinese flame treeKoelreuteria bipinnata General Notes
{{Taxonbar, from=Q2902122 Sapindaceae