Monographs Details:
Authority:

Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
Family:

Caesalpiniaceae
Description:

Species Description - Tree to 25 m tall; bark light brown, smooth. Leaves 22-50 cm long; pinnae 9-25 pairs; leaflets 10-35 pairs per pinna, 6-15 mm long, oblong or elliptic, chartaceous, glabrous, the apex and base acute or rounded, the margins entire; stipules deciduous. Flowers in axillary or terminal racemes; bracts ovate, 5-8 mm long, deciduous; pedicels 4-7 cm long. Calyx forming a nearly cup-shaped hypanthium, 4-12 mm long, the sepals oblong to elliptic, 2-3 cm long; petals orange, red, or rarely yellow, 4.5-6 cm long, long-clawed, obovate, the upper central petal slightly larger with whitish or yellowish spots; stamens long exserted, the filaments hairy on lower portion; ovary pubescent. Legume 30- 60 x 4-5.5 cm, oblong, glabrous, dark brown, the valves tardily dehiscent. Seeds many, ca. 2 cm long, flattened-cylindrical, dark brown with light brown mottling.

Distribution and Ecology - A common tree, planted along roads and gardens. Along Center Line Road by km 7.5 (A2076). Native to Madagascar, now cultivated and naturalized throughout the tropics.

Discussion:

Common names: flamboyant tree, poinciana.