Delonix regia (Bojer ex Hook.) Raf.
Royal poinciana, flamboyant
Royal poinciana is a native of Madagascar. It was originally named for Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy, the 17th-century governor of Saint Christopher (previously called Saint Kitts).
Plants: A medium-sized tree, up to 33′ (10 m), with light brown bark, and a flat, wide, crown. Mature trees may have a crown 70′ (21 m) in diameter, with trunks up to 4′ (1.3 m) in diameter.
Leaves: Compound, doubly pinnate, and light-colored bright green. Leaves are 12–20″ (30–50 cm), and contain 20-40 pairs of primary leaflets (pinnae). Each of these is further divided into 10-20 pairs of secondary leaflets (pinnules).
Flowers: Each flower has four orange-red or scarlet-colored petals up to 3″ (8 cm) long, and a fifth upright petal (the “standard” or “banner”). The standard is somewhat larger and spotted with yellow and white. Flowers appear from June to July.
Fruits: Pods mature to dark brown and woody beanlike fruit pods up to 2′ ⨉ 1¾″ (60 ⨉ 5 cm) in size. They contain small seeds.
Habitats: Dry deciduous forests.
Online References:
Poinciana regia Bojer ex Hook.
8/15/2003 · South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands · By Heather A. Kent 
| Kingdom | Plantae | Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae (from Stearn's Botanical Latin) |
| Subkingdom | Tracheobionta | Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients |
| Division | Magnoliophyta | Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms |
| Class | Magnoliopsida | Dicotyledons—plants with two initial seed leaves |
| Subclass | Rosidae | Roses, legumes, proteas, dogwoods, hydrangeas, mistletoes, euphorbias, grapes, many more |
| Order | Fabales | Legumes (pea and bean families) |
| Family | Fabaceae | Legume family (peas and beans) |
| Genus | Delonix | From the Greek delos, “conspicuous,” and onyx, “claw,” referring to the flowers |
| Species | regia | Royal |
Delonix regia description by Thomas H. Kent, not updated.
© FloraFinder.org. All rights reserved.