Family: bladdernuts (Staphyleaceae)
Flowering time: May–June
Size: 1–5 m
Habitat: deciduous forests, forest edges and shrubby areas
Common bladdernut (Staphylea pinnata) is a shrub with opposite leaves. Its bipinnate leaves consist of five to seven elliptic to broad-lanceolate leaflets with serrated margins. Numerous white or yellowish-white five-petaled flowers form a long-peduncled, pendulous inflorescence. The bracts are 9–12 mm long and never fully open. The sepals are yellowish. The fruit is an inflated capsule, 3–4 cm long and equally wide. Common bladdernut grows on moist, moderately fertile soils, preferably on calcareous substrates.
In Slovenia it is found in the pre-Alpine, pre-Dinaric, Dinaric and sub-Mediterranean regions; in the Alpine region and in Pomurje it is very rare.
