This Japanese or Chinese Pagodatree or Scholar-tree is actually native to China and Korea. It is a fast growing tree of 2 to 3 feet/year that is similar to the American Black Locust. The alternate leaves are 6 to 10 inches long with 7 to 17 opposite leaflets that only get a poor yellowish-green fall color. It bears creamy-white, mildly fragrant pea-like flowers in 6 to 12 inch long panicle clusters in July into August. The fruit is 3 to 8 inch long pods, constricted between the seed, that begin green to yellowish to finally brown. It suffers some from cankers, powdery mildew, and leaf hoppers. Its gray-brown bark is very plain. When it is a young tree it looks good for some years, but in time it gets more unkempt. It is a weak-wooded and messy tree by dropping lots of twigs and branches and pods, the latter often staining sidewalks green. There are a lot of this species planted in street wells and in parkways along the streets of Philadelphia, PA, and its suburbs; sometimes it is a lawn tree. I have not really seen it in my native Chicago, Illinois area, but there is one nursery listed as selling it in the Ornamental Growers Association of Northern Illinois nursery guide. I thought for years it had a Zone 6 hardiness.

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