Hoptree

The Hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata, Rutaceae) is a deciduous shrub or small tree 6–8 m tall with a broad crown. It is native to North America, from southern Ontario, Canada southeast to Florida, USA, west to southern California and south to Oaxaca in southern Mexico.

Some botanists treat the Hoptree as a group of four or more closely related species:

• Eastern Hoptree, Ptelea trifoliata
• Florida Hoptree, Ptelea baldwinii (P. trifoliata var. baldwinii)
• Western Hoptree, Ptelea crenulata (P. trifoliata var. crenulata)
• Narrowleaf Hoptree, Ptelea lutescens (P. angustifolia, P. trifoliata var. angustifolia)

The twigs are slender to moderately stout, brown with deep U-shaped leaf scars, and with short, light brown, fuzzy buds. The leaves are alternate, 5–18 cm long, palmately compound with three (rarely five) leaflets, each leaflet 1–10 cm long, sparsely serrated or entire, shiny dark green above, paler below. The western and southwestern forms have smaller leaves (5–11 cm) than the eastern forms (10–18 cm), an adaptation to the drier climates there.

The flowers are small, 1–2 cm across, with 4–5 narrow, greenish white petals, produced in terminal, branched clusters in spring, with an unpleasant odor. The fruit is a round wafer-like papery samara, 2–2.5 cm across, light brown, maturing in summer.

The bark is reddish brown to gray brown, short horizontal lenticels, warty corky ridges, becoming slightly scaly, unpleasant odor and bitter taste. It has several Native American uses as a herbal medicine for different ailments.