''Cladrastis'' (yellowwood) is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. It includes four species, three native to eastern Asia and one to southeastern North America.''Cladrastis Raf.
''

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

''. Retrieved 1 August 2023. Species of ''Cladrastis'' are small to medium-sized

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s typically growing 10–20 m tall, exceptionally to 27 m tall. The

leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are compound pinnate, with 5–17 alternately arranged leaflets. The flowers are fragrant, white or pink, produced in racemes or panicles 15–40 cm long. The

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...

is a pod 3–8 cm long, containing one to six seeds. ''Cladrastis'' is related to the genus '' Maackia'', from which it differs in having the buds concealed in the leaf base, and in the leaflets being arranged alternately on the leaf rachis, not in opposite pairs. The genus name derives from the Greek ''klados'', branch, and ''thraustos'', fragile, referring to the brittle nature of the twigs. The combination of ''Cladrastis'', '' Pickeringia'' and '' Styphnolobium'' form a

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

known as the ''Cladrastis'' clade; as the other two originated from within ''Cladrastis'', ''Cladrastis'' is paraphyletic.

Species

Four species are currently accepted: * '' Cladrastis delavayi'' (Franch.) PrainSome sources treat ''Cladrastis delavayi'' as a synonym of ''Cladrastis sinensis''. – Bhutan in the Himalayas to Hunan in Central China * '' Cladrastis kentukea'' (Dum.Cours.) Rudd – south-eastern North America. * '' Cladrastis shikokiana'' (Makino) Makino – south-central and southern Japan * '' Cladrastis wilsonii'' Takeda – central China.

Species

References

Further reading