Subdued Orchid Tree from South America

Whenever I travel to tropical cities in Australia or overseas, I expect to find Hong Kong Orchid Trees on the streets or in public parks. The large, pink-purple flowers, with those distinctive cloven leaves, are a memorable addition to planted landscape in warm and humid climates.

Strickly, the Hong Kong Orchid Tree - the floral emblem of Hong Kong - is Bauhinia x blakeana, a hybrid between what is sometimes simply called the Orchid Tree, Bauhinia variegata, from China through to India, and the Purple Orchid Tree or Butterfly Tree, Bauhinia purpurea, from India and thereabouts. These two species are also widely planted, in the tropics. 

It is a surprise then, perhaps, to be featuring an Orchid Tree from Melbourne Gardens. We have seven specimens of what is commonly called the Brazilian Orchid Tree, Bauhinia forficata, native to Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia. 

The species name means 'scissor shaped' or more simply forked and refers (I'm assuming) to the leaf, which does often look like the two halves are slightly overlapping, like scissors. They are also more divided and the two halves are a little more elongate that you find in the Hong Kong Orchid Tree, which is sometimes called Cow's Foot due to the rounded shape of their leaves.

I can't say I'm an expert on the leaves or flowers of Orchid Trees. Prior to writing this post, I had assumed there were just a handful of species, and just as naively, that they all came from China (or thereabouts). 

It turns out Bauhinia is a rather large genus, although estimates of number of species vary from 100 to 300, or if you include various genera excised from Bauhinia recently, perhaps over 400. It's in the pea family, Fabaceae (think Caesalpinia rather than members with the butterfly-like flowers) and grows naturally in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world.

Unlike the two species and the hybrid I mentioned at the top, the Brazilian Orchid Tree has white flowers, which along with the leaf shape makes it easy to recognise among the few I know. Although, there are white flowering variants of both parent species of Bauhinia x blakeana.

While I'm impressed by the willingness of this tropical/subtropical South American species to grow and flower in Melbourne, I can't say the overall impression is quite as memorable as the more colourfully flowered species. Or maybe it was the tropical light.

Note: As my Sydney correspondent Simon Goodwin reminds me, the genus name Bauhinia has great significance too, honoring the French botanist brothers, Johann and Gaspard Bauhin. As Simon observes, a rather apt name for a genus distinguished by twinned leaflets... Thanks Simon for this addition, and (in this penultimate of my regular blog posts) for your attention to detail and much appreciated corrections when I go astray! Neville Walsh, my Victorian colleague and friend, has also provided wise counsel and many a correction along the way - keeping me honest and moderately accurate. Thanks too...