Amur maackia

Maackia amurensis, the Amur maackia, is a small to medium deciduous tree of the Fabaceae native to the temperate forests of northeastern China, the Russian Far East, Korea, and Japan. Mature trees reach 8–15 m with a short, often crooked trunk and dark, peeling, copper-bronze, exfoliating bark on younger branches that becomes furrowed with age. Leaves are alternate, imparipinnate, 15–30 cm long with 7–13 leaflets; leaflets are ovate to ovate-elliptic, 3–8 cm long, with a rounded base and acute tip, dark green and glabrous above, paler and faintly appressed-pubescent beneath. Stipules are minute. Inflorescences are erect, dense, terminal, paniculate racemes 10–20 cm long borne above the foliage in midsummer (July–August); flowers are papilionaceous, dull greenish-white to creamy-white, 8–12 mm long. Pods are flat, narrowly oblong, 4–6 cm long, glabrous, becoming dark brown at maturity, with 1–5 ellipsoid seeds. Heartwood is hard, dark, and rot-resistant, and the species is unusual among legumes in producing isoflavonoids of pharmacological interest (maackiain, retusin).