Colchis Bladdernut (Staphylea colchica)
Description
Staphylea, or bladdernut, 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 3-7 in S. pinnata and 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.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum:
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Crossosomatales
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Family: Staphyleaceae
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Genus: Staphylea
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