Koelreuteria

Koelreuteria, also known as chinese lantern tree, is a genus of three species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae, native to southern and eastern Asia.

Description
They are medium-sized deciduous trees growing to 10 - 20 m tall, with spirally arranged pinnate or bipinnate leaves. The flowers are small and yellow, produced in large branched panicles 20 - 50 cm long. The fruit is a three-lobed inflated papery capsule 3–6 cm long, containing several hard nut-like seeds 5–10 mm diameter.

Publication
It was published by Erik Laxmann in 1772.

Type species
The type species is Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm.

Species
The genus has three accepted species:
 * Koelreuteria bipinnata Franch.
 * Koelreuteria elegans (Seem.) A.C.Sm.
 * Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm.

Etymology
The genus was named after Joseph Gottlieb Kölreuter (1733-1806), from Karlsruhe, Germany, by Erich Laxmann.

Uses
Koelreuteria are commonly used as focal points in landscape design in regions where they thrive.

In some areas, notably parts of eastern North America, they have become invasive species.