atoll research bulletin no. 392 the flora of - Smithsonian Institution ...

across, several together in terminal or axillary racemes; petals 5, erect or spreading (4
obovate, 1 ovate), each about 3 to 5 cm long and 2 to 3 cm across, white to pink with
red or purple blotches or dots, the uppermost one with deeper red, yellow or yellow
margined; fertile stamen 1, staminodes 5, small; pods, 15 to 18 cm long and about 3 cm
wide, oblong or linear, flattened, leathery, rather shiny brownish or black; seeds, ovate,
compressed, dull brown, free or separated by tissue or septa. Planted ornamental.
3(58785), 5, 6(224), 7.
Bauhinia variegata L "white bauhinia", "orchid tree", "butterfly tree", "purple
orchid tree", "moun tain ebony"
Recent introduction. India, Burma and China. Rare. Shrub or small tree, up to 8
m high; leaves, 5 to 14 cm long and wide, alternate, broadly ovate to suborbicular,
cordate to truncate at based, palmately-nerved, split at apex into 2 wing-like lobes which
extend about a third of the way or less to the base, lobes rounded; flowers, several
together in terminal or axillary racemes; petals 5, obovate, 4 to 6 cm long and 2 to 3 cm
across, the uppermost one broader, variable from pale purple to rose or white or yellow,
with one petal variegated with red and yellow; fertile stamens 5, staminodes 5, about half
as long as the stamens; pods, up to 30 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. The tree is variable
with the two main varieties being B. variegata var. variegata, with pale purple to rose
petals, with purple or crimson veins or blotches, and var. candida with white petals with
green veins, and somewhat purplish on the exterior. Planted ornamental tree. 6(194), 7.
Caesalpinia bonduc Roxb. "beach nicker", "gray nicker", "nicker bean"
dugienae, dogienae (N)
Indigenous. Pantropical. Rare. Scrambling to climbing shrub with long branches
with sharp, recurved, hooked spines, young parts brown pubescent; leaves, 30 to 80 cm
long, bipinnate with 6 to 12 pairs of pinnae; stipules pinnate, subpersistent, leafy,
composed of 2 or 3 superimposed parts, caducous; leaflets (pinnae), 1.5 to 6.5 cm long
and 0.5 to 3 cm wide, opposite or subopposite, ovate to elliptic-oblong, inequilaterally
rounded or cuneate at base, obtuse to subacute at apex, slightly pubescent; petiolules, 2
to 3 mm long; flowers, about 1 cm long, numerous, in supra-axillary racemose clusters,
calyx greenish brown, corolla yellow, pedicels at antithesis 6 to 12 mm long; pods, 4.5
to 9 cm long and 3 to 5 cm wide, oblong, inflated, prickly, dehiscent; seeds 1 or 2,
about 1 to 1.8 cm in diameter, subglobose, smooth, glossy gray or olive green, very
hard. Large shrub in coastal thicket and in overgrown garden on Command Ridge.
5(114), 6(158, 212, 269).
Caesalpinia pulcherrinia (L.) Sw. "pride of Barbados", "dwarf poinciana",
"Barbados flower fence"
syn. Poinciana pulcherrima L.