Koelreuteria elegans, Flamegold, Chinese Rain Tree

Koelreuteria elegans (Seem.) A.C. Sm.
Family: Sapindaceae
Synonym: Melia elegans Seem.

Common name: Flamegold, Chinese Rain Tree
Arabic: كولرتيريا حمراء
Chinese: 台灣欒樹

Koelreuteria elegans, more commonly known as the Taiwanese Rain Tree is a deciduous tree to 15-20 metres native to Taiwan. It is widely grown throughout the tropics and sub-tropical parts of the world as a street tree. It flowers in early to mid-summer. Flowers are small, to 20 mm in length, and occur in branched clusters at the stem tips. They are butter-yellow with five petals that vary in length until opening. Each flower contains seven to eight pale yellow stamens with hairy white filaments. The fruit is a brown-purplish three-lobed capsule that splits to reveal a number of black seeds

Published articles of Koelreuteria elegans
1. Antioxidant for preventing and treating diseases e.g. skin aging, comprises extract of plants e.g. Barringtonia racemosa, Muntingia calabura, Galphimia glauca, Koelreuteria elegans, Triplaris americana and/or Calliandra haematocephala
Patent Number: JP2010043012-A
Patent Assignee: SHISEIDO CO LTD
Inventor(s): IWAKI H; KUSAKARI K; YOKOI T.

2. Karyotype differentiation between Koelreuteria bipinnata and K-elegans ssp formosana (Sapindaceae) based on chromosome banding patterns
By: Urdampilleta, JD; Ferrucci, MS; Vanzela, ALL
BOTANICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY  Volume: 149   Issue: 4   Pages: 451-455   Published: DEC 2005

3. Evaluation of some pharmacological activities of Koelreuteria paniculata Laxem and Koelreuteria elegans (Seem) A. C. Sm.
By: El-Eraky, W. I.; Mahmoud, S. S.
Bulletin of the National Research Centre (Cairo)  Volume: 27   Issue: 2   Pages: 149-163   Published: 2002

4. Nueva cita de Sapindaceae cultivada: Koelreuteria elegans subsp. formosana.
New location for cultivated Sapindaceae: Koelreuteria elegans subsp. formosana.
By: Ferrucci, M. S.; Pompert, M. de
Bonplandia  Volume: 9   Issue: 1/2   Pages: 25-27   Published: 1996