Pterocarya
(from pteron, a wing, and caryon, a nut; referring to the winged fruit). ORD. Juglandeae. A small genus (three or four species) of hardy, deciduous trees, natives of temperate Asia. Flowers unisexual, monaecious, in long, pendulous spikes. Fruit drupaceous, dry, angled, having two wings as the ovary, much tapered at the tip, not opening. Leaves ample; leaflets often numerous, narrow. The species are seldom seen in gardens. They thrive best when planted near water; in such spots, P. fraxinifolia makes one of the most ornamental of deciduous trees. All the species are easily raised from seed, imported or ripened in this country.
P. caucasica (Caucasian). A synonym of P. fraxinifolia. P. fraxinifolia (Ash-leaved).* Caucasian Walnut. fl. greenish. May. l., leaflets about nineteen, ovate-oblong, acuminate, acutely serrate, glabrous. h. 20ft. to 40ft. Caucasus (in moist woods), 1800. SYN. P. caucasica. P. rhoifolia (Rhoeas-leaved). fl., female catkins sub-terminal, loose-flowered, equalling or exceeding the leaves. l, eight or nine-jugate; leaflets sessile, rounded from the base, oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, argutely and densely serrulated, glabrous above, softly pubescent on the veins beneath, as well as on the petioles. Japan. (S. Z. F. J. 150.) P. stenoptera (narrow-winged). fl., females sessile; bracts minute, acute; wings linear-oblong, attenuated at apex. l. five-jugate, with a rudimentary odd leaflet; leaflets sessile, elliptic lanceolate, attenuated at base, obtuse at apex, serrated on the margins. China.