American bladdernut, is a fast-growing, upright, deciduous, perennial, flowering shrub or small tree in the Staphyleaceae family. It attains a height and width of 15 feet and is heavily branched when mature and produces suckers to reproduce. It is commonly found in nutrient rich bottomlands, woodland thickets, and moist soils along waterways where it establishes dense, shrubby, colonies in the wild. Undergound runners can form offsets making this plant spread in the landscape. American Bladdernut grows easily in average, dry to medium, well-drained soils in part shade to full shade. It tolerates a wide variety of soils, including clay, but prefers a moist, rich loamy soil in full sun or semi-shade. In the wild, this is a fast-growing but short-lived tree. The plants flower best in years that follow hot summers. Use this native in a rain or woodland garden, plant it in an understory area of the landscape that gets some shade or near a stream, pond or water feature. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No serious insect or disease problems. Plants in this genus are notably resistant to honey fungus. Sensitive to heat, drought, and soil compaction.
Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds
whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.
No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.
Also noted by NC State
Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell
apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day) | Partial Shade (Direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)
Soil texture
Clay; High Organic Matter; Loam (Silt); Sand; Shallow Rocky
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Moist | Occasional Flooding | Occasionally Dry
Available space
6-feet-12 feet; 12-24 feet
NC region
Coastal; Mountains; Piedmont
Mature size
Height: 10 ft. 0 in. - 15 ft. 0 in. | Width: 10 ft. 0 in. - 15 ft. 0 in.
Growth rate
Rapid
Maintenance
Low
Canopy layer
2 - Understory (15-40 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Ascending; Dense; Erect; Multi-stemmed
Texture
Medium
Foliage
Deciduous
Leaf color
Green
Leaf type
Compound (Pinnately , Bipinnately, Palmately)
Leaf arrangement
Opposite
Leaf shape
Ovate
Leaf margin
Serrate
Leaf size
3-6 inches long, < 1 inch wide
Hairs present
No
Leaf detail
Dark green, 2 to 4 inch, trifoliate (three-parted), leaves (each ovate leaflet to 4 inches long). Fall color is yellow. Each leaflet has a rounded to wedge-shaped bottom and tapers to a tip that is short and slender; the upper surface of each leaflet is medium to dark green and hairless, while the lower surface is light green and pubescent. The terminal leaflet has a stalk (or petiolule) up to 1" long, while the 2 lateral leaflets are nearly sessile.
Fall color
Gold/Yellow
Flower color
Green; White
Flower value
Showy
Flower form
Panicle
Flower shape
Bell
Flower size
< 1 inch
Flower detail
Greenish white, bell shaped flowers in nodding panicles that bloom in April and May. Drooping clusters of flowers develop from the axils of the compound leaves. Each flower is about 1/3 inch long, 1/4 inch across; it has 5 outer sepals, 5 inner petals, several stamens, and a pistil. Initially, both the sepals and petals are white; shortly later the sepals become light green or dull pink. The slender pedicels are a little longer than the flowers.
Bloom time
Spring
Fruit color
Brown/Copper
Fruit type
Capsule
Fruit value
Showy
Fruit size
1-3 inches long, 1-3 inches wide
Fruit detail
Flowers give way to inflated, bladder-like, egg-shaped, papery seed capsules (1 to 2 inches long) which mature in late summer and often persist into early winter. Seed capsules add interest to dried flower arrangements. This capsule is obovoid or ovoid in shape with 3-angular lobes. Immature capsules are green during the summer, but they become light brown during the fall. At this time, the seeds can be made to rattle inside their capsule; there is a single seed per cell. In North Carolina, the fruits are available from August to October.
Bark color
Green; Light Gray; White
Bark detail
The trunk and/or larger branches have bark that is mostly grey and rough-textured, while smaller branches have bark that is smooth with longitudinal streaks of white black and light grey.
Stem color
Brown/Copper; Red/Burgundy
Stem detail
Young stems are smooth and red brown.
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Native
Origin
Eastern United States
Wildlife value
Bees, butterflies, and other pollinating insects enjoy the nectar from the flowers. Small mammals browse the foliage.
Seeds can be eaten raw or cooked. The seed can be used in place of walnuts in making chocolate-chip cookies. A sweet edible oil is obtained from the seed used for cooking purposes.
Uses (ethnobotany)
Seed capsules used in dried flower arrangements. Attractive native flowering shrub.
Landscape Use
Landscape theme
Native Garden; Pollinator Garden; Rain Garden
Design feature
Border; Flowering Tree; Small Tree
Garden tags
#deciduous #Braham Arboretum #NC native #flowering shrub #drought tolerant #shrub #native shrub #flowering tree #woody #fruits early fall #green fruits #food source hard mast fruit #fruits fall #piedmont #food source pollen #food source nectar #Coastal FAC #Piedmont Mountains FAC #fast growing #food source fall #flowers late spring #showy flowers #mountains #spring interest #green flowers #flood tolerant #white flowers #full sun tolerant #native garden #moist soil #spring flowers #fall interest #Audubon #coastal plant #rain garden #dried arrangements #understory planting #flowers mid-spring #showy fruits #partial shade tolerant #wildlife friendly #short lived #thicket
Problems & Resistance
Resistant to
Black Walnut; Diseases; Drought; Dry Soil; Insect Pests