Friday, April 2, 2010

The Orchid Tree


What a gorgeous tree this was! We found it near the Hillbank Field Station. It has intense color, large showy blossoms and a lovely fragrance. The flowers were well overhead so this photo was the best I could manage lacking a ladder. A friend in Corozal tells me it appears to be an orchid tree and she's been trying, without success, to get seeds to start one. Based on this clue to the common name, it appears to be a Bauhinia species, in the Fabacea family, tropical in distribution. Conceivably this could be an Asian ornamental that found its way to Belize, possibly B. blakeana or B. purpurea. I wish it would find its way to our backyard!

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