Bauhinia variegata L.
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Authority
Isley, Duane. 1975. Leguminosae of the United States: II. Subfamily Caesalpinioideae. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 25 (2): 1-228.
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Family
Caesalpiniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Small or large glabrate tree with stiff, open branching. Leaves simple, suborbicular, cordate or not, 6-20 cm, .8-1.2 r, cleft ca 1/3 with rounded lobes; blade faintly puberulent on nerves beneath or glabrate. Flowers in short, puberulent, usually few-flowered racemes, appearing before or after leaf fall. Pedicels short, 2-3 mm; hypanthium pedicel-like to turbinate, 1-2 cm; calyx spathiform, oblanceolate to pointed-ellipsoid in bud, 1.5-2.5 cm, splitting into a single emarginate piece; petals pink- to red- or blue-purple; frequently mottled or streaked, or white, obovate, somewhat unequal, 4-6 cm long, to 3 cm wide and usually overlapping in flower; functional stamens 5; stigma minute. Legume elastically dehiscent, stipitate (1-1.5 cm), oblong, flat, 2-3 dm long, 1.5-2.5 cm wide; valves becoming woody. Seeds few.
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Discussion
B. alba Hort. B. purpurea Hort. p.p. B. variegata var. candida Hort. CN n = 14 (Sharma and Raju, 1968); 2n = 28 (Atchison, 1951). Both the colored and white forms of this most common Bauhinia are planted. The leaves fall in late winter or spring. If flowering follows loss of the leaves, the effect is striking, the massive flowers at tips of bare branches silhouetted against the sky. If flowering precedes complete leaf fall, the tree with flowers intermixed with the discolored leaves is much less attractive. The white-flowered form, often designated var. candida, is apparently characterized by no differential characters other than flower color.
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Distribution
Peninsular Florida to urban California, occasionally elsewhere in conservatories. Cult, ornamental, locally slightly established. (Dec.-)Jan.-April(-Aug.). Orchid tree, Mountain ebony. Eastern Asia, widely cult, in warm regions of the world.
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