Royal Poinciana Tree aka Flamboyant aka Flame tree

Description:

This tree has an absolutely GORGEOUS mulitude of orangey red flowers and lovely feathery bright green leaves. It seems that as more flowers bloom there are less leaves. A tree in full bloom appears to have almost no green leaves at all. They shed their lovely petals all over painting their surroundings an incredible firey sunset of red. As a tree of great beauty it is recognized in many countries by grand names such as Phoenix's Tail-Vietnam, Krishnachura (meaning Crown of the Lord Krishna)-India, and Peacock tree. Royal poinciana gets 30-40 ft (9.1-12.2 m) tall and spreads wide making for nice shade. Since it is a legume it has nitrogen fixing properties which is great for soil. Technically speaking from wikipedia--- "The flowers are large, with four spreading scarlet or orange-red petals up to 8 cm long, and a fifth upright petal called the standard, which is slightly larger and spotted with yellow and white. The naturally occurring variety flavida has yellow flowers.[2] Seed pods are dark brown and can be up to 60 cm long and 5 cm wide; the individual seeds, however, are small, weighing around 0.4 g on average. The compound leaves have a feathery appearance and are a characteristic light, bright green. They are doubly pinnate: Each leaf is 30–50 cm long and has 20 to 40 pairs of primary leaflets or pinnae on it, and each of these is further divided into 10-20 pairs of secondary leaflets or pinnules."

Habitat:

It prefers a tropical climate but can tolerate drought and salty conditions as well. It is natively found in Madagascar's dry deciduous forests and is endangered in the wild. It is however cultivated in many other locales.

Notes:

When I saw this tree in 2005 I came home from my trip and spent a few days trying identify it. Now of course there is much more information on it online. I was so taken with their bright, rich beautiful display of flowers and the hue of their feathery leaves I just knew I needed to grow one. Being from Arizona at the time, I realized it was probably not a wise choice for the hot, dry, drought desert climate of my home state. I now know it is in fact grown in Arizona. Now I live in Southern California at the beach in a climate zone 11 area where EVERYTHING grows.....maybe? :)