Page 66 - Free State Winter 2022 - Website Version

pale yellow, leaving the raised shield shaped leaf scars on the
olive to light brown stems. Twigs have brown-orange lenticles.
The silhouette of the Goldenrain Tree is irregularly shaped,
open branched with a round crown on a small to medium
size tree growing 30-40 feet wide and tall. The branches grow
medium to fast to spread wide and lift upwards. Even young
trees can produce bright yellow star shaped flowers in the
early summer that are ½ inches wide, stacked loosely on a
12-15 inch long and wide panicle. As they mature and fall to
the ground they resemble a golden rain puddle carpeting the
area under the trees. The flowers mature into papery 3- valve
capsules that change from green to yellow and finally brown,
resembling dangling Chinese lanterns. There are no National
Champion Koelreuteria paniculata found in the National
Register of Champion Trees. The plants have no serious
diseases or insects, but canker, coral-spot fungus, leaf spot,
root rot, wilt and nematodes have been reported. Plants can
easily reseed which could be invasive. There are a number of
cultivars including ‘Beachmaster’ a more compact tree whose
seeds were collected along the seashore, and ‘September’,
that flowers late summer.

Mom ifir Phellodendron amurense or Amur Cork Tree is a medium sized
tree from northern China, Manchuria and Japan. The UMD

GROWING WITH EDUCATION (Continued) Champion tree is located by the Grounds Compound. It is
cold hardy in USDA zones 3-7 and thrives in full sun to shade
creamy yellow green, lightly fragrant flowers which mature and prefers moist well-drained soils but is adaptable to many
quickly into showy pointed bean shaped seed pods. Pods split soils, many pH’s and slightly tolerant of urban air pollution.
open into 4 petal like sections with the pea sized seeds at the The Amur Cork Tree leaves are arragned opposite on the stout
edges, and can be harvested for decorations. Trees are self- yellow gray stems with that mature to brown and prominent
fertile which allows it to reseed easily, and is considered an lenticels. The leaf scars are a raised ‘U’ shaped. The leaves
invasive in many southern states and is not available for sale. are pinnately compound growing 10-15 inches long. There are
Although there are no National Champions listed in the 2021 usually 5-11 leaflets which are 2 ½ to 4 ½ inches long and half as
National Register of Champion Trees, Dr. Dirr listed one that wide, narrow at the base and the tip, rounded in the center.
grew 47 feet tall, 36 feet wide in San Diego County, California The top of the leaves are dark lustrous green and smooth
in his 6th edition of Manual of Woody Landscape Plants. There on the underside. In the autumn, the leaves turn a bronze
are only a few pests listed like bark scale, but the structure of yellow before abscising. Trees usually grow 30-45 feet tall
the wood is weak and can cause breakage in strong winds and wide with a broad spreading rounded crown over large
and winter snow or ice.
almost horizontal branches. When the tree grows very old the
Koelreuteria paniculata or the Goldenrain Tree has other bark becomes ridged and furrowed into a cork like pattern,
common names including Varnish Tree or the Pride of India giving the tree is name. The flowers are dioecious like Holly
and is from China, Japan and Korea. The Champion on the tree, with male flowers on one tree and female flowers on the
UMD campus is located near Benjamin Hall. It is cold hardy in other. This is important because the plants are allelopathic,
zones 5-8, thrives in full sun and although it can tolerate a wide which means that they put out a chemical that alters the soil
range of soil types, it does prefer moist, well drained neutral microorganisms and suppresses the growth of other plants
soils. The Goldenrain tree is also heat, drought, wind and air including decreasing the production of native oak and hickory
pollution tolerant, making it a positive choice for many towns nut production. Female trees can produce thousands of seeds
and cities. Early spring the alternately placed hairy buds open from the small yellow green flowers that grow in large clusters
to feathery pinkish bronze pinnate or bipinnate compound of terminal panicles. The flowers mature into small fruit that
leaves that reach 18 inches long. They mature into a rich green starts out yellow green in color and gradually turns oily and
color with each leaf composed of 7-17 irregularly and coarsely aromatic as it turns black. The fruit stays on the panicles
lobed leaflets. In the autumn, the leaves can turn bright to after the leaves fall off and have 2-3 viable seeds. In the

66 WINTER 2022 • Free State News