European bladdernut

Photo: Marco Schmidt — CC BY 2.5 · source

Survives zone 6 through 8

Harvest calendar

Best planted in early spring after your last frost, or in fall before the ground freezes, depending on your climate.

Pistachio-like edible seeds in papery rattling pods.

Hardiness

Zone 6–8

Habit

Shrub

Edible part

Seed, Fruit

Ripens

Autumn

Mature size

Shrub 2–4 m

Light

Partial (woodland edge)

Soil pH

6.0–7.0

Environment

Temperate

Native range

Southern and central Europe east to Turkey and the Caucasus, in open woodland, scrub and hedgerows on limestone.

Status

Both wild and cultivated

Years to fruit

3–5 yrs

Growth speed

30–45 cm/year — medium.

Spacing

300 cm (118 in) apart — about 9 m² (97 sq ft) per plant

Leaf shape

Opposite and pinnate with 5–7 pointed ovate-oblong leaflets each up to 10 cm long — the compound pinnate leaf distinguishes it immediately from the trifoliate American species.

Root system

Shallow and suckering, building a multi-stemmed clump; not invasive.

Fruit description

Inflated papery two- or three-lobed bladder capsules up to 4 cm long, pale brown and rattling when ripe, containing a few hard, shiny, pale-brown seeds that taste of pistachio.

Propagation

Seed needs warm then cold stratification and is slow, often germinating in the second spring. Suckers and softwood cuttings are the practical routes.

Pollination

Hermaphrodite and insect-pollinated — bumblebees, small solitary bees and hoverflies work the drooping cream bell-flowers. Self-fertile, though a second plant improves set.

The edible parts listed above are a starting point, not a field guide. Identify a plant with certainty — ideally against a local authority — before eating any part of it, and read the full disclaimer. Spotted something wrong? Report it.