American bladdernut

Description

Staphylea trifolia, the American bladdernut, is native to eastern North America, from southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec west to Nebraska and Arkansas, and south to Florida. It is sometimes used as an ornamental plant. It is a medium-sized shrub growing to 3.5 m (11 ft) tall. Its growth rate is medium to fast. The leaves are opposite and divided into three leaflets, each leaflet 4.5-13 cm (2-5 in) long and 5 cm (2 in) broad, with a serrated margin. The leaves are bright green in the spring, turning dark green in the summer. S. trifolia produces pendant white flowers in spring, which mature into bladder-like, teardrop-shaped fruits that contain 1-3 brown popcorn-like seeds. Some sources consider these "nuts" to be edible. Staphylea, called bladdernuts, is a small genus of 10 or 11 species of flowering plants in the family Staphyleaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The highest species diversity is in China, where four species occur. They are large shrubs, occasionally small trees, growing to 2-5 m tall. The leaves are deciduous, arranged in opposite pairs, and pinnate, usually with three leaflets, but 76-178 mm (3-7 in) S. pinnata and 76-127 mm (3-5 in) S. colchica. The flowers are produced in drooping terminal panicles 5-10 cm long, with 5-15 flowers on each panicle; the individual flowers are about 1 cm long, with the five sepals and petals similar in size and in their white or pale pink colour. The fruit is an inflated papery two- or three-lobed capsule 3–10 cm long, containing a few small nut-like seeds. Several species are grown as ornamental plants for their flowers and peculiar bladder-like fruit. The popular Staphylea elegans is a hybrid of unknown origin, probably between S. colchica and S. pinnata. The pickled flowers can be served as a side dish in Georgian cuisine.