The Trees at Keele
Pride of India Koelreuteria paniculata
Also known as the Golden Rain Tree it is a native of China, Japan and Korea.
A medium-sized, fast-growing ornamental or shade tree reaching to about 10m tall by 10m wide with an upright rounded habit, becoming more spreading with age.
Leaves: up to 40cm long, alternate, pinnately to bipinnately compound with about 7 to 15 leaflets, each leaflet being toothed and sometimes lobed at the base. In good autumns they are golden yellow.
Flowers: flowers in mid-summer, the small yellow flowers with four petals combine to form a 30cm large and showy panicle with the individual flowers not opening all at once but over several weeks.
Fruits : clusters of greenish three-sided pods that turn brown with age and persisting through the winter.
Uses: planted as an ornamental tree in the UK but considered invasive in parts of the USA.
Location : one in the special collection by the Memorial Garden; square K11; tag 02.