Piptanthus laburnifolius (D. Don) Stapf

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Piptanthus laburnifolius' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/piptanthus/piptanthus-laburnifolius/). Accessed 2024-04-18.

Genus

Piptanthus

Synonyms

Thermopsis laburnifolia D. Don
Piptanthus nepalensis Sweet

Infraspecifics

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

alternate: Attached singly along the axis not in pairs or whorls.
calyx: (pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
glaucous: Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
lanceolate: Lance-shaped; broadest in middle tapering to point.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Piptanthus laburnifolius' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/piptanthus/piptanthus-laburnifolius/). Accessed 2024-04-18.

Leaves of Piptanthus nepalensis are deciduous or evergreen, depending on the climate where the plant is grown. Bodnant garden, Wales, UK. 28 September 2010. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

A shrub or low tree with very pithy young shoots; naturally 8 to 12 ft high, but growing taller against walls, where it is generally placed in England. When grown at Kew it is deciduous, but in milder climates it retains more or less foliage during the winter. Leaves alternate, consisting of three lanceolate, stalkless leaflets, 3 to 6 in. long, about one-third as wide, with a marginal nerve, glabrous except when quite young, dark green above, glaucous beneath; the common leaf-stalk 11⁄2 to 2 in. long. Racemes stiff, erect, 2 to 3 in. long, and as much broad, hairy, and set with hairy bracts. Flowers pea-shaped, 11⁄2 in. long, the stalk up to 1 in. long and, like the bell-shaped, deeply lobed calyx, very hairy; petals bright yellow. Pods 3 to 5 in. long, 3⁄4 in. wide.

Native of the Himalaya; introduced to England in 1821. It thrives well against a wall, flowering in May, but is not permanently hardy in the open air at Kew. A shrub of exceptionally vigorous appearance, it is, nevertheless, not long-lived. It is easily propagated by seeds, which it ripens in quantity, and owing to its dislike of root disturbance should be grown in pots until planted in permanence.

From the Supplement (Vol. V)

The correct name for this species is P. nepalensis (see below).

The flat green pods of Piptanthus nepalensis contains about five to seven seeds each. Bodnant garden, Wales, UK. 28 September 2010. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Close-up on the brown-grey seeds of Piptanthus nepalensis. Meise Botanic Garden (number 20021076–82), Belgium. 29 April 2021. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

The pea-shaped flowers of Piptanthus nepalensis are assembled in short, stiff, upright racemes. Meise Botanic Garden (number 20021076–82), Belgium. 29 April 2021. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

The pea-shaped flowers of Piptanthus nepalensis are bright yellow. Meise Botanic Garden (number 20021076–82), Belgium. 29 April 2021. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Piptanthus nepalensis grows in fertile, well-drained soils in sun or partial shade. Here in the wild near Lachung, North Sikkim, India. 12 June 2015. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Piptanthus nepalensis is a shrub of exceptionally vigorous appearence, but not long-lived. Here in the wild near Lachung, North Sikkim, India. 12 June 2015. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

The green flat seed pods of Piptanthus nepalensis with the photographer's hand for scale. Lachung, North Sikkim, India. 12 June 2015. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Piptanthus nepalensis is native to the Himalaya, where it grows in coniferous forests, woodland margins, thickets and meadows. Rendui, Yunnan, China. 14 October 2019. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Piptanthus nepalensis is a very variable species in the wild and only two taxa are recognized. Rendui, Yunnan, China. 14 October 2019. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

P forrestii Craib

In this species the leaflets are green, furnished with short, appressed hairs on both sides, and the young shoots are hairy. Flowers bright golden yellow. I saw a plant 6 ft high fully in bloom in the Edinburgh Botanic Garden during early June 1931. So the species is evidently perfectly hardy.

P tomentosus Franch

As in P. forrestii, the leaflets are hairy or even velvety on both sides, but more conspicuously so on the underside where the hairs are very dense; pod woolly, 2 to 3{1/4} in. long.