There are lots of things blooming this time of year, so identifying plants can be a challenge. Here’s one I was asked to ID recently. No photos, just a word description. Do you know what it is?
- Three leaves something like a rose leaf with very fine serrations)
- Trunk is 2-3 inches in diameter and 6-8 feet tall.
- Growing along but not in a waterway with some direct sunlight but woods on the back side.
- Flowers are white and remain bell shaped, do not open up as many flowers do.
- Seed pods from last year are three sided. The shape is something like a filbert nut.
The real key here is the leaf with three leaflets. There aren’t that many plants with this type of leaf (called trifoliate). A quick look through George W.D. Symonds Tree and Shrub Identification books gave a couple of options and the “flowers that don’t open” and 3-sided fruit nailed it down.
This is a fairly good description of American bladdernut, Staphylea trifolia. It is native to much of the eastern US, growing as a tall suckering
shrub rather than a tree. The leaves are opposite with three finely-toothed leaflets. The flowers are small white bells that appear in clusters from April into May. By September you’ll find a papery, inflated, balloon-like, three-sided fruit.
You can grow this native in moist, well-drained soils in sun but also in fairly deep shade. It won’t knock your socks off but can be a nice effect in a naturalized area.
You can find it at both the IMA and the Indianapolis Zoo.
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