Maackia amurensis (Rupr. & Maxim.) K. Koch

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Maackia amurensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/maackia/maackia-amurensis/). Accessed 2025-04-28.

Family

Fabaceae

Genus

Maackia

Synonyms

Cladrastis amurensis Rupr. & Maxim.

Infraspecifics

var. buergeri

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

bud: Immature shoot protected by scales that develops into leaves and/or flowers.
calyx: (pl. calyces) Outer whorl of the perianth. Composed of several sepals.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
ovate: Egg-shaped; broadest towards the stem.
imparipinnate: Odd-pinnate; (of a compound leaf) with a central rachis and an uneven number of leaflets due to the presence of a terminal leaflet. (Cf. paripinnate.)

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Maackia amurensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/maackia/maackia-amurensis/). Accessed 2025-04-28.

Maackia amurensis in full flower at the Scott Arboretum of Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania, July 2010. Image John Grimshaw.

A small deciduous tree, said to be 40 ft or more high in the wild, with peeling bark, but usually shrubby in cultivation in this country; young shoots minutely downy. Leaves 8 to 12 in. long, pinnate, with seven to eleven leaflets; the main-stalk rather swollen at the base, but leaving the bud quite exposed; leaflets opposite, ovate, blunt at the top, 11⁄2 to 3 in. long, dark green above, paler and glabrous beneath. Flowers borne in July and August, pea-shaped, dull white, closely set on stiff, erect racemes, 4 to 6 in. long, sometimes branched at the base. Each flower is 1⁄2 in. long on a short stalk about half its length; calyx bell-shaped, 1⁄6 in. long. Pods 2 to 3 in. long, 1⁄3 in. wide, flat, with the seam slightly winged.

Native of Manchuria; introduced in 1864. An example at Kew, pl. 1922, measures only 15 × 11⁄4 ft (1968).

Maackia amurensis flowering abundantly in the Savill Garden, Windsor Great Park, UK, on 31st July 2021, after a particularly wet spring and early summer. Image Owen Johnson.

New growth on Maackia amurensis (Arboretum Wespelaar, Belgium, April 2024). Image John Grimshaw.

var. buergeri (Maxim.) Schneid.

Synonyms
Cladrastis amurensis var. buergeri Maxim

This is a native of Japan and differs chiefly in the leaflets beneath being furnished with appressed hairs, also the calyx.

A flower-head of Maackia amurensis var. buergeri at Lullingstone Castle, Kent, on 11th July 2010. Image Owen Johnson.

Maackia amurensis var. buergeri (Yorkshire Arboretum, 1 August 2022). As the pallid leaves suggest this is not a thrifty plant. Image John Grimshaw.