Cork Tree

Description

Tree reaching 7 to 10m in height; can attain 15m; bark thick and corky (like P. amuremnse, but the shoots are reddish-brown in winter!); leaves 20 to 35cm long, rachis soft-pubescent, leaflets 5 to 13,oval-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate, 5 to 10cm long, acuminate, base cuneate, dull yellowish-green above,light green beneath and pubescent (at least when young), petiole 3 to 4mm long; flowers in about 6 to 8cm wide, loose, pubescent inflorescences, borne in June; ovaries glabrous, fruits very numerous, black. Often confused in cultivation with P. japonicum (DS 6). More regular in outline than P. amurense, with more upright branches and bark not as pronouncedly corky; leaflets are duller green (DS 9).