238 CHINESE ECONOMIC TREES 



This tree produces the most important of all the fruits in Southern 

 China. 



KOELREUTERIA 



Deciduous trees, winter buds with 2 bud scales. Branchlets with 

 many lenticels- Leaves alternate, pinnate or bipinnate with lobed or 

 serrate leaflets. Flowers in large terminal panicles, polygamous, yellow, 

 irregular; calyx unequally 5 lobed ; petals 5 (4), lanceolate, clawed ; disk 

 oblique, 3-5 lobed at the apex; stamens 8 (5-8), exserted, decimate; 

 ovary superior, 3 angled with elongated style and 3 parted stigma. 

 Ovary 3 celled, 2 ovules in each cell. Fruit an inflated, bladder-like 

 capsule with thin papery walls, opening into 3 valves; seeds usually 1 in 

 each cell, round and black. 



About 5 species in China and Japan. Medium sized trees, character- 

 ized by compound leaves, yellow flowers in large, showy panicles followed 

 by inflated, bladder-like fruits. Propagated by seeds. Chiefly orna- 

 mental. 



Koelreuteria paniculata Laxmann. 



Tree 18 m. tall. Leaves odd pinnate, 5-13 cm. long; leaflets 9-13, 

 opposite or subopposite, nearly sessile, ovate, toothed or more or less 

 lobed at the base, glabrous, 4-7.5 cm. long, 3 cm. wide; valves ovate, 

 acuminate. Seeds 6 mm. in diameter. 



Chihli, Kansu, Shensi, Szechuan, Kiangsu, and Chekiang. Common 

 in the hills around Peking. In classical times this tree was known as 

 the ' Lan," a tree especially designated to mark the tomb of feudal 

 princes. The flower is used in medicine. It is also used as a yellow 

 dye. The black, pea-like seeds are strung into necklaces. 



Koelreuteria apiculata Rehdcr and Wilson, cannot be regarded as 

 distinct from K. paniculata. 



Koelreuteria bipinnata Franchet. 



Tree to 15, sometimes 25 m. tall. Leaflets 9-13, ovate-oblong, more 

 or less evenly serrate, pubescent along the midrib and veins below, 

 4-10 cm. long. Capsule ovoid, rounded at the apex, about 6 cm. long. 



Mountains of Central and South-western China. Yunnan, Hupeh, 

 Chekiang. 



