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Trochodendron aralioides
Known popularly as the wheel tree, Trochodendron aralioides (Trochodendraceae) is grown more for its bold, rubbery, evergreen leaves and exotic bearing than for its strange, apetalous stamen-spoked flowers.
Native to Japan, southern Korea and Taiwan, Trochodendron is of particular interest to botanists because it displays cryptic dioecy; i.e., flowers are functionally perfect, but individual trees are either strictly protandrous (anthers release pollen before stigmas are receptive) or protogynous (stigmas are receptive before anthers release pollen). The wood anatomy of Trochodendron is also unusual, lacking the vessel elements common to flowering plants. Instead, it uses tracheids for water conduction, similar to the conifers.
