''Colutea arborescens'' is a species of
leguminous
A legume () is a plant in the family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seed of such a plant. When used as a dry grain, the seed is also called a pulse. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consumption, for livestock for ...
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...
known by the common name bladder-senna.
It is native to Europe and North Africa, but it is known on other continents where it is grown as an
ornamental and used in
landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following:
# Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal o ...
for
erosion
Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is distin ...
control. It is also known in the wild as an occasionally weedy escapee from cultivation.
Description
It is a vigorous shrub to 3 m, takes a rounded form and has many branches covered in
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 ...
leaves. The leaves are pale green
[ and made up of many pairs of slightly hairy oval-shaped leaflets, each up to about 3 cm long. The ]inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
is a raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
of generally pea-like yellow flowers about 3 cm long. The fruit is an inflated bladdery pod which dries to a papery texture. It is 2 to 3 cm long and contains many seeds.
Cultivation
It will grow in poor dry soil in exposed conditions, but likes full sun. It propagates by seed or softwood cuttings.
References
External links
USDA Plants Profile
Jepson Manual Treatment
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Galegeae
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Flora of Europe
{{Faboideae-stub