Staphylea trifolia

last fall I came around the corner of this litle wooded area and found this seed pod hanging out from the creek bed , it reminded me of them paper Japanese Laterns that we used to hang up as kids. I tried everything I could to get this one see d pod down that was hanging there but other than taking a dip ina cold stream and still not maybe having any luck I passe d it by.

I just learned that this tree is the American Bladdernut. Great tree to hear the name of after ya been walkign for 3 hours and had 6 cups of coffee already that morning.

I found another tree that in bloom right now. I making my lists and maps as I get a chance of trees to go back to later and collect the seeds from. Is this a tree that I want to collect from? Anybody grow it or know of it and I know it looks intersteing now with all the blooms hanging from it, but what about after the blooms?

I've not met that species, but do know the related European Bladdernut Staphylea pinnata; it is an interesting shrub / small tree, more of a curiosity than especially attractive. Worth having it for fun testing out visiting plantspeople, and extra native plant diversity, though.

Resin

Here's the European species with immature fruit, last summer:

I have a couple of them. The first I planted by the deck. It is lovely, but sends up gobs of either suckers or seedlings! I moved one out by the woodshed where it can do whatever it wants to!
A pic of the blooms:
http://pic16.picturetrail.com/VOL635/2413050/6513951/94029431.jpg

And one of the pods:
http://pic16.picturetrail.com/VOL635/2413050/6513951/60787628.jpg

Pretty funny,

Is this Staphylea trifolia?

http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Staphylea+trifolia says that the seed, like that of the European bladdernut, is edible, even tasty. I doubt that anyone had selected plants for yield, seed size or flavor, let alone hybridized various species hoping for more and better nuts. I ordered one from ForestFarm this year, forget which species, mostly for sheer novelty value, and got it a couple of weeks ago in good condition.

Mark., never seen them in the wild

Count the leaflets . . . 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 . . that's more than trifoliate!

That makes it Staphylea pinnata, or perhaps S. colchica (the only other Staphylea that has more than 3 leaflets)

Resin

That's what I thought. Not "tri" folia. So which one do ya think it is?

Probability (frequency in cultivation) would suggest S. pinnata, but it could be either. It isn't easy to find out how to distinguish them; the best I can offer is that S. pinnata more frequently has 7 leaflets (tho' also often has 5), whereas S. colchica rarely has more than 5. Just to make it impossible, there is also a hybrid between the two :-)

Resin

One of the plants John and I saw at the zoo was an exceptional example of Staphylea colchica. The zoo's hort director who showed us around is very high on this plant. A big shrub though, almost a small tree. Staphylea trifoliata is a great plant too. Nice bark, especially on younger plants. Dawes has a great collection of them. All are interesting in fruit.

Scott

Gooley's hyperlink says it is hardy to zone 5. But S. trifolia grows wild in both Minnesota and Wisconsin in zones 3 and 4.

All Plants for a Future zones need to be taken with a grain of salt, I think. Culture info in general seems to be from Brit sources, and reflects Brit experience and conditions in the garden more than observations in the wild.

Mark.

It's also growing wild in the UP and where I've seen it is a zone 4.

What do you call rain in the UP?

Yoo'-pee-dew

(please keep the boos and hisses to yourself)

Da Yooper Story
In da beginning dere was nuttin.

Den on the first day
God created da Upper Peninsula.

On the second day
He created da partridge, da deer,
da bear, da fish, and the ducks.

On da third day
He said "Let dere be Yoopers to
roam da Upper Peninsula".

On the forth day
He created da udder world down below.

On the fifth day
He said "Let there be trolls to
live in the world down below".

On the sixth day
He created da bridge so da trolls
would have a way to get to heaven.

God saw it was good and on da seventh day,
He went Huntin.

Hope ya'll don't mind if I show a pix of my bladdernut.

P

made it through exam after exam and finally it Spring Break. Got a whole 10 days to play in the yard and battle weeds and check conditions of trees.

That some beautiful photos folks. I have never seen the tree with the fruit yet, so gonna make it a point to check that out here in a bit after the bloom season.

Appreciate the advice. Definitly gonna put this on my " to collect" list. How exciting. Always nice to find a new cool looking tree. : )

Nope sure don't Big Red. Gues s we was typing at the same time. The red I see in your photo. Is that color that shows all the time just before the flowers open do ya know. The one I saw was already fully open and had been for some time.

star,
I've never noticed the red before...thanks for the answer resin. Tree is from my friend moko's wooded property. He brought it to me about 6 yrs ago. It hasn't grown much,maybe 6-7ft tall to date.It was full of seed pods last year but I only managed to claim about 4-5. Don't know if something ate them or they fell off. Planted the seeds last fall as soon as I picked but so far ,no sprouts.

P

If you have the time to go back and click on my first link, you will see no red in it .

Sorry, I haven't mastered the art of posting pics directly to this forum!

This message was edited Mar 25, 2007 7:20 AM

Thanks Resin, I know that, but the problem is...I can't remember which folder the pics are in...:-( , and it takes so long to hunt them up. It is easier to go to my PT pics and linking to them!

Bud scales. cool! Thanks Resin!

I saw your pic Marian. beautiful one of the blooms. Looke d like ones I saw. I almost was tempted to cut a sprig of them off and brign home and put ina flower arrangement but then thought of all the possible seeds that might be lost and just admired it and walked on to the next tree.