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Caesalpinia gilliesii (Hook.) Benth.

Modern name

Caesalpinia gilliesii (Hook.) D.Dietr.

Synonyms

Poinciana gilliesii Hook.

A deciduous shrub or small tree, with slender erect branches; young shoots covered with gland-tipped hairs. Leaves doubly pinnate, about 8 in. long, composed of about nine to eleven pairs of primary divisions 112 in. long, each of which carries numerous small, glabrous, oblong leaflets, about 14 in. long and 112 in. wide. Racemes terminal, stiffly erect, 1 ft or more long, carrying from thirty to forty flowers. Each flower is borne on a downy stalk, 1 in. or more long, the petals rich yellow, 114 in. long, forming a rather saucer-shaped corolla. Sepals 34 in. long; stamens scarlet, 212 to 3 in. long; pod 3 in. long, 58 in. wide. Bot. Mag., t. 4006.

Native of the Argentine Republic, especially in the province of Mendoza; introduced in 1829, but too tender to have become generally cultivated. It succeeds quite well on a south wall at Kew, where it has grown 25 ft high, and flowered nearly every year in July and August. The plant now in the collection grows against a wall of the Temperate House. It has no chance at Kew in the open ground, but in a garden at Ryde, Isle of Wight, it succeeded admirably. The rich yellow flowers with long scarlet stamens give a singularly brilliant effect.


Genus

Caesalpinia

Other species in the genus