Sapindus drummondii Hook. & Arn.

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Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Sapindus drummondii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sapindus/sapindus-drummondii/). Accessed 2025-11-08.

Family

Sapindaceae

Genus

Sapindus

Common Names

Wild China-tree

Synonyms

Sapindus saponaria var. drummondii (Hook. & Arn.) L.D.Benson

Other taxa in genus

Glossary

berry: Fleshy indehiscent fruit with seed(s) immersed in pulp.

References

There are no active references in this article.

Credits

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

Recommended citation
'Sapindus drummondii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/sapindus/sapindus-drummondii/). Accessed 2025-11-08.

Pinnate compound leaves and yellowish white panicles on Sapindus drummondii. Meise Botanic Garden (19871745, wild-collected in Oklahoma, USA), Belgium. 20 July 2018. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

A deciduous tree up to 40 or 50 ft high, with scaling bark; young shoots warted, slightly downy. Leaves alternate, pinnate, 10 to 15 in. long, made up of eight to eighteen leaflets which are lanceolate, slenderly pointed, tapered and often oblique at the base, not toothed, 11⁄2 to 31⁄2 in. long, 1⁄2 to 1 in. wide, rather pale green and glabrous above, downy beneath when young especially at the base of the midrib. Flowers yellowish white, 1⁄6 in. wide, produced during June on pyramidal terminal panicles 6 or 8 in. long; sepals narrowly triangular; petals obovate, downy inside; stamens hairy, eight or ten. Fruits about 1⁄2 in. wide, nearly globose, described as having a thin, dark, orange-coloured, semi-translucent flesh; they ultimately turn black.

Native of the southern United States, especially towards the west, and of N. Mexico; introduced to Britain in 1915. It is quite hardy but of little ornamental value. The popular name derives from a fancied resemblance between this species and Melia azedarach, known as the China-tree or China-berry in the southern USA, where it is much cultivated.

Flowers of Sapindus drummondii are produced in high summer on pyramidal terminal panicles. The specific epithet honours the Scottish botanist and naturalist Thomas Drummond. Meise Botanic Garden (19871745, wild-collected in Oklahoma, USA), Belgium. 20 July 2018. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Foliage of Sapindus drummondii can turn excellent yellow-gold in autumn. Meise Botanic Garden (19871745, wild-collected in Oklahoma, USA), Belgium. 23 october 2015. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Sapindus drummondii is quite hardy given a warm summer. A small tree near the orangery, Meise Botanic Garden (19871745, wild-collected in Oklahoma, USA), Belgium. 23 October 2015. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Sapindus drummondii has a greyish brown scaly trunk. Here another tree of the same accession in Meise Botanic Garden (19871745, wild-collected in Oklahoma, USA), Belgium. 20 July 2018. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Flowers of Sapindus drummondii are followed by green grape like fruits that mature in early autumn. Meise Botanic Garden (19871745, wild-collected in Oklahoma, USA), Belgium. 23 August 2018. Image Guillaume Mamdy.

Maturing fruits of Saoindus drummondii (Orto Botanico Lucca, Tuscany, September 2025). Image John Grimshaw.

Fruits of Sapindus drummondii turn yellow-orange and eventually black when ripe. They are usually one-seeded. Meise Botanic Garden (19871745, wild-collected in Oklahoma, USA), Belgium. 24 May 2019. Image Guillaume Mamdy.