Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw., 1791

Verloove, Filip, 2021, New records in vascular plants alien to Tenerife (Spain, Canary Islands), Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 62878-62878 : 62878

Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Sw., 1791

Caesalpinia pulcherrima Observ. Bot. 166. 1791.

Distribution

TENERIFE: Adeje, Playa de Las Américas, barranco at Av. Eugenio Dominguez Alfonso, dry riverbed close to the sea, a single individual, self-sown, ca. 150 cm tall (cultivated nearby), 09.01.2017, F. Verloove 12714 (BR). https://observation.org/observation/204635636/

Notes

This species is widely grown as an ornamental shrub. In fact, its exact origin is unknown due to widespread cultivation. It is a prickly shrub or small tree with bipinnate, showy red and yellow flowers with very long stamens (60 mm or more long) with yellow or bright red filaments and relatively large petals (more than 25 mm long).

Caesalpinia pulcherrima is fast-growing and easily reproduces from seed. Therefore, it is naturalised in many regions where it was introduced in the past and it is increasingly considered an invasive weed (for instance, in parts of Australia, Ecuador, the Philippines and Cuba).

In January 2017, a single self-sown flowering individual was observed in a dried-out water channel close to the sea in Playa de Las Américas in Tenerife (Fig. 2 ).

Figures

Figure 2. Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Adeje, January 2017.