Summer colors.

Summer colors. Koelreuteria paniculata Laxm or "Soap tree" from the Sapindaceae family.
This interesting deciduous ornamental tree was brought to Europe for urban landscaping from China in the mid-18th century. This species received its name in honor of the famous German botanist Joseph Gottlieb Koelreuteria.
To this day, this species is still not very common. Koelreuteria deserves the attention of landscapers and just lovers of ornamental plants. Koelreuteria paniculata is a small tree with an openwork crown, usually tent-shaped, 6-8 meters high. The size of the tree varies depending on the growing conditions. The trunk has thick grayish-brown bark with beautiful vertical grooves.
The bark contains a large amount of saponins, which are used as a soap substitute, so Koelreuteria is sometimes called the "soap tree" or "false soap tree". The branches are often strongly curved and peculiarly twisted, which gives an additional decorative effect to the tree in winter.
The leaves are alternate, odd-pinnate, up to 40-45 cm long, dark green, with a dense texture. The flowers are small, of an original "star-shaped" shape (1 cm in diameter), bright yellow, collected in numerous openwork paniculate inflorescences located at the ends of the shoots. Flowering begins in early June and lasts 1.5-2 months.
During flowering, the tree is very decorative and attracts everyone's attention. This plant is no less impressive during fruiting, which begins in late July - August. The fruits are original three-valved swollen capsules, similar to paper lanterns. At the beginning of ripening, the capsules are beautiful light green, perfectly harmonizing with the dark green foliage. The tree with numerous blistered fruits acquires a smart airy texture. As they ripen, the fruits acquire brownish shades. Inside the capsule, many black seeds ripen, similar to the seeds of sweet peas. The autumn coloring of the leaves adds chic to this plant. In autumn, the leaves are distinguished by the predominance of dark crimson tones.