Bauhinia tomentosa L.

  • Authority

    Isley, Duane. 1975. Leguminosae of the United States: II. Subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25 (2): 1-228.

  • Family

    Caesalpiniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Bauhinia tomentosa L.

  • Description

    Species Description - Pubescent to glabrous evergreen shrub. Leaves simple, suborbicular in outline, 2-8 cm, .9-1.1 r, cleft 1/3-2/3 with rounded lobes, basally obtuse; blade pubescent to glabrate beneath. Stipules filiform, sometimes persistent and conspicuous. Flowers 1-2 in small racemes amid leaves, pendent. Pedicel-hypanthium 1-2.5 cm; calyx broadly spathiform, 2-toothed at apex, 1-2.5 cm, cleft in one line; petals yellow to cream or pale ochroleucous, one often with a conspicuous dark spot at base, fading dull purple to pink, broadly obovate and scarcely clawed, 1.5-6 cm, strongly overlapping; stamens 10; ovary tomentose; stigma large. Legume shortly stipitate, oblong, flat, 7-12 cm long, 1-1.5 cm wide; valves coriaceous, strongly margined, initially or permanently pubescent.

  • Discussion

    B. brachycarpa Hort. B. hookeri Hort. p.p. B. natalensis Hort. B. picta Hort. B. taitensis Hort. p.p. B. wallacei Hort. CN n = 14 (Sharma and Raju, 1968); 2n = 28 (Atchison, 1951). Herbarium material of Asiatic and African origin looks essentially identical and I have referred it all to B. tomentosa, this judgment validated by Wunderlin who kindly annotated a sampling of U.S. material. The considerable variance within B. tomentosa, however, may in due time suggest other interpretations. Size of leaves and flowers is distributed in the United States in a curious way. (1) California. Leaves 2-2.5 cm, cleft 1/2 or more, glabrate or with inconspicuous pubescence; petals only 1.5-3 cm with other floral parts proportionately small. (2) Florida. Leaves 4-8 cm, cleft 1/2 or less, distinctly pubescent; petals 4-6 cm. (3) Florida (one accession only, Fairchild Garden). Leaves as type 1; petals 3.5-4.5. The petals of the apparently bell-shaped flowers are spread on mounted specimens, but Ledin and Menninger (1956) say of live material “. . . the petals of B. tomentosa are half-wrapped to form a tube about two inches long. This rarely opens more than an inch wide at the mouth.”

  • Distribution

    S Florida and urban California. Cult, ornamental but not common. All year. Old World tropics, introduced and apparently naturalized in the Antilles.

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