A spectacular spreading tropical tree from Madagascar covered in vivid scarlet flowers, planted across the tropics as a "flame of the forest."
Where it grows
Royal poinciana is endemic to the dry deciduous forests of western Madagascar but is now planted across every continent’s tropical and subtropical zones, from Caribbean plazas to South Indian boulevards. It tolerates poor soils and drought but is killed by hard frost.
How to recognise it
A broad, umbrella-shaped crown spreads wider than the tree is tall, carried on a short fissured grey trunk. The feathery, bipinnate leaves resemble those of an acacia. The five-petalled scarlet-orange flowers, with one white-and-red striped “standard” petal, blanket the entire crown in the dry season. Long woody seed pods up to 60 centimetres remain on the tree for months.
Uses
The tree is grown almost exclusively for ornament — few flowering trees match its visual impact in full bloom — and as wide shade over hot plazas and avenues. As a legume, it modestly fixes nitrogen and improves the soil beneath it.
Conservation
The species is widely cultivated and listed as Least Concern globally, but its wild Madagascar populations are reduced to small fragments threatened by habitat loss.