Argh! Tree names! Enough to drive you crazy. The NYC Parks Dept.’s badass-streets-approved Goldenraintree (draught, salt, high pH, poor soils) is Sibley’s Golden Rain-tree (a/k/a Shower Tree, Pride of India, Varnish Tree, Gate Tree), which is not to be confused with Common Laburnum, (a/k/a Golden Chain-tree, Golden Rain Tree). Anyway, Koelreuteria paniculata is blooming now, and showering the streets, and parked cars, with yellowish pollen. They are late bloomers. Begging the bees forgiveness, I stuck the macro into the small flowers.
This is the tree that produces those intriguing, triangular, paper-like seed capsules:
I like them. They get a little messy and sprouts show up everywhere but they grow anywhere and flower in the summer.
It was the Society of Municipal Arborists ‘Tree of the Year in 2010. Look up http://www.urban-forestry.com
Enjoy