Koelreuteria elegans

taxobox
name = "Koelreuteria elegans"

---

image_caption = Chinese rain tree with fruit
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
unranked_ordo = Rosids
ordo = Sapindales
familia = Sapindaceae
genus = "Koelreuteria"
species = "K. elegans"
binomial = "Koelreuteria elegans"
binomial_authority = Laxm.|

"Koelreuteria elegans", more commonly known as the Chinese Rain Tree is a deciduous tree to 15-20 metres native to Taiwan and southern China. It is widely grown throughout the tropics and sub-tropical parts of the world as a street tree.

It flowers in early to mid-summer. Flowers are small, to 20 mm in length, and occur in branched clusters at the stem tips. They are butter-yellow with five petals that vary in length until opening. Each flower contains seven to eight pale yellow stamens with hairy white filaments.

The fruit is a brown-purplish three-lobed capsule that splits to reveal a number of black seeds.

It is a declared weed in many parts of the world, particularly Brisbane, Australia [cite web | url=http://www.weeds.crc.org.au/documents/wmg_chinese_rain_tree.pdf | title=Weed Management Guide: Chinese rain tree – Koelreuteria elegans ssp. formosana | publisher=CRC for Australian Weed Management | year=2003] and in Hawaii.

References