Staphylea pinnata

[Paul T]

Howdy All,

I was up a couple of hours north of here on my usual nursery crawl expedition (currently also lots of open gardens in the area) and came across this shrub at a nursery.  They didn't know what it was either.  I have a couple of cuttings to try, but would love to find a name if I could.  The flowers are unusual in that they have 5 petals that sit out, and 5 petals that sit close around the stamens a bit like a trumpet.  They are NOT fused though.  It is a fully deciduous shrub, having a similar type of growth to lilacs (Syringa) in the dormant bud look and the fact that their new growth emerges with flowers at the tip.  The leaves appear to be 5 lobed pinnate, a bit like a rose leaf in arrangement.  It rings some vague bells for the flower, but I am sure I have never seen this plant before.  Maybe I know something related to it that I can't put my finger on (so to speak).

The pictures aren't perfect, but it was getting late at that time and the light wasn't good.  I do still have some flowers here on the cuttings, so I can take pics for particular items if someone needs them.

Any ideas what it is?  Thanks for any help.

3-10-09 : Subject modified to reflex Paddy's positive identification (been meaning to do it but had forgotten until now).  Less that an our.  Damn impressive!!    Thanks Paddy.

[Paddy Tobin]

Paul, Look up Staphylea pinnata (bladdernut) and see how it compares. Looks like some kind of staphylea. Paddy

[Paul T]

Paddy,

Either the species is very variable, or there are a lot of different things under that name on google.  Some looked identical to mine, while others had clusters of flowers on a pendulous stem, as opposed to the more lilac-like head on mine.  I'd hazard there may be different forms of it, or else as is so often the case misidentification.  Either way, it looks to most definitely be a Staphylea, and with the leaves it is most likely Staphylea pinnata.  Thanks so VERY much.  Under an hour and it was identified.  Is this place brilliant or what? 

Anyone else have any qualifications to the identification?  Might it be another species that is close etc?  I've never even heard of Staphylea until now, so it is a whole new genera to me.  Any pointers on striking cuttings and when these should be taken?  I am guessing the very soft new growth that I have will be pretty useless and I should either go for semi-hardwood or else dormant wood in winter?  I would love to give it a go.

Thanks again so much, Paddy.

[Paddy Tobin]

Paul,

I grew Staphylea pinnata from seed, easy go germinate and grow on and makes a good-sized shrub within a very few years.

Paddy

[Onion]

Paul,

Paddy is right. Staphylea is very easy growing from seeds. Cuttings are also possible. At "normal" time, with the other deciduous trees. We made it in the nursery in July/August (Northern Hemisphere). The cuttings have new roots at the end of September. The pots must protect from frost in the next winter.

[Lesley Cox]

Good luck with the cuttings Paul. It looks a lovely thing. each flower seems almost orchid-like. (Calanthe aristat for instance. I'm pretty sure there is another in a garden at Killara, part of Sydney.

[Kristl Walek]

I tried, but was not able to overwinter Staphylea pinnata back in Ontario, although in one zone warmer, it grew at the Montreal Botanic Gardens.

Staphylea bumalda I had no problems with and of course, the beautiful and native S. trifoliata (Bladdernut, because of the inflated seed receptacles) is one of my favorite small understory shrubs. Sadly, it does not range into Nova Scotia, although I am hoping for a late delivery of the seed for my list this year from a friend in Ontario.

[Onion]

Kristel,

the same problem here in this area. No problems with S. trifolia, but S. pinnata not doing very well in the last winter with -12 to -15 degree.

[Stephenb]

I have both S. trifoliata (synonym for trifolia I guess) and S. pinnata and both grow well here, unless it is an imposter. Here's a couple of pictures of my pinnata. The nuts are edible and although small are likened to the taste of pistachios.

[Onion]

Stephen,

how do you eat them. Fresh? Roasted?
Very interesting. Never heard before of this.

[Stephenb]

For the first time this year I've had a crop of nuts. However, they seem to mature quite late. I harvested a few just now (see the picture). As you can see they are really quite small. You can (just) break the nut with your teeth, but the flesh of  my immature nuts (greenish/white inside) didn't easily come free from the shell, so extremely fiddly.  Perhaps someone in a better climate with mature nuts could check (they can also be cracked gently in a nutcracker, they don't split open like a pistachio to which they are sometimes compared, see below). They are usually eaten raw. The reference in PFAF - see http://www.pfaf.org/database/plants.php?Staphylea+pinnata refers back to a paper from 1854 (!) where it is stated that the kernels ....taste like those of pistachios and are eaten in Germany by children. Indeed, a common name is false pistachio.

I suggest though that Staphylea nuts would be useful to anyone (not naming names) needing to kick a "Chocolate-chip cookies" addiction. I have a reference to Staphylea trifolia seeds being used in place of walnuts in chocolate-chip cookies. I think one would use more energy preparing these than from eating them.... A cooking oil has also apparently been extracted from the seeds of the North American trifolia.

However, I am more interested in Staphylea colchica (anyone have any seed??) as this one has up until recent times been sold on markets (in the Caucasus - Georgia), but not the nuts. Corncuopia II states that "The young leafy shoots are eaten, having somewhat the flavour of garlic. The flower buds are pickled and used as a caper-like condiment, or mixed with red onion-rings, olive oil and red wine vinegar as an appetizer."

[Stephenb]

Found one other (more positive) reference (the source of the chocolate cookies reference):

Euell Gibbons (the best known wild forager in the US in the 1960-1970s) says in his book "Handbook of Edible WildPlants":
"Several authors have stated that these seeds taste like pistachios. I
have tried them in Connecticut, Virginia, and Wisconsin. They are chewy,
oily and slightly sweet--frankly, they do remind me of wild hickory
nuts! At a wild foods luncheon, I used them in place of walnuts in
chocolate chip cookies. Hy guests pronounced them quite good. They were
surprised to learn that these nuts came from the peculiar pods in the
dried arrangement that graced the table."

[Kristl Walek]

Stephen....the thing is....with the relative smallness of the seeds (nuts) of the Staphylea trifoliata (at least half the size of S. pinnata), it is WAY too fiddly for me, who is also a wild forager. In years when I have had large crops, I tried putting a wack of them on a large tray and gently taking a rolling pin to the mass---but even this was hardly worth the effort.

I remember how shocked I was when I first saw the large S. pinnata seeds (in comparison with S. bumalda and trifoliata).

The Staphylea colchica interests me as well---but I wonder if the fruits are any larger.

[Olga Bondareva]

Stephen
I collected Staphyllea pinnata seeds many times but I've never heard they are tasty. It could be interesting to taste them. Here is a photo of them. Sorry without anything to understand the size.

[Stephenb]

Stephen....the thing is....with the relative smallness of the seeds (nuts) of the Staphylea trifoliata (at least half the size of S. pinnata), it is WAY too fiddly for me, who is also a wild forager. In years when I have had large crops, I tried putting a wack of them on a large tray and gently taking a rolling pin to the mass---but even this was hardly worth the effort.

I remember how shocked I was when I first saw the large S. pinnata seeds (in comparison with S. bumalda and trifoliata).

The Staphylea colchica interests me as well---but I wonder if the fruits are any larger.

I'm wondering now if it is pinnata that I have. Would you say that the picture of pinnata nuts that I posted above are twice the size of trifoliata? Difficult to believe Euell Gibbons or anyone would bother using them if they are half the size of mine!

I've seen the colchica nuts and they looked smaller and I haven't seen a reference to the nuts of this species being used apart from a reference to an edible oil in Komarov's Flora of the USSR (note, Olga!)

I've seen colchica in various gardens in the UK and Europe. Picture below from Utrecht Botanical Garden.