It is claimed that there are now more Royal Poincianas in Miami than in Madagascar. This would not be hard to believe as the ‘Great Island’ has suffered under the merciless and corrupt rule of successive military leaders. Consequently, the trees are considered highly endangered thanks to indiscriminate deforestation and grazing by that other curse of the developing world, the goat.
In areas where it stays in leaf year-round, the spectacular floral display occurs when summer is about to arrive. It's that time of the year, when Miami-Dade County’s official flowering tree can be seen in full bloom across southern Florida, continuing until July. If ever there was a reason to visit there, this is it.
It is there that the Flamboyant once again becomes the Royal Poinciana, celebrated about the first week of June with the Royal Poinciana Festival, now in its 77th year. It was first organized in 1937 by the famous botanist and plant explorer David Fairchild, who is credited with introducing the trees to Miami.
It has been called the world’s most beautiful tree. And that’s when it is not in bloom. In flower, as T.C. Whitemore of the University of Oxford observed in
The Oxford Encyclopedia Trees of the Word (1981) it “rivals the Asia tree Pride of Burma,
Amherstia nobilis, as the tropics most glorious flowering tree.”
Yet while it was spread across the world’s tropics and subtropics, Delonix regia remained unknown to science until the 1930s when it was rediscovered growing wild in Madagascar. There for millennia, its flame red blooms had seared the forests of that exotic island. Lemurs leapt through its branches as sunbird pollinated the blooms.
It was started on its worldwide conquest, as have been so many other outstanding ornamentals by a missionary, or so it is said, from a single village tree. But confusion has not stopped there. Taxonomists, ever ready to sow such, first named it Poinciana regia in honour of the 18th century governor of the French West Indies island of Saint Christopher, Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poinci. Thus the tree became known as the Poinciana – subsequently the honorific ‘Royal’ was added.
Unfortunately in the course of European colonial tussles, French Saint Christopher became British St. Kitts. Likewise taxonomists dictated a change and the Poinciana regia became Delonix regia – for now, anyway. In plain every-day language, the Royal Poinciana is also known amongst English speakers as the Flamboyant, Peacock Flower or even confusingly as the Flame Tree. Confusing because several other trees and shrubs are also so named.
It is well named – whatever the language. In Spanish it is
Arbol de Fuego, Tree of Fire. So it appears in bloom with its large, scarlet to orange flowers. So profuse are they that they almost hide the green, fern-like foliage. If, that is there are any leaves. For in drought-ridden areas it is deciduous bursting into bloom two weeks before the first rains arrive.
Elsewhere it is a semi-evergreen, half-hardy ornamental. As long as the temperature remains above a minimum of 13ºC it will tolerate a wide range of soil and climatic conditions. Fast growing it has become a highly desirable street tree, appearing also in parks, estates and botanic gardens.
Ranging from 9 to 15 metres tall but exceeding that in canopy spread, the roots spread out near the surface, discouraging underplanting. However, this same feature endears it to third world tropical villages as a shaded meeting place free of snakes, scorpions and similar vermin. Encountering paved sidewalks, walls and similar structures though the roots may cause damage in more advanced societies.
The only other real drawback is a reputation for being “messy.” Twigs and small branches are shed but the real litter comes from the huge wooden pods, over 60-centimetres long born in brown bundles. These rattle in the wind so in the Caribbean where they may serve as fuel for fires, and are known as “women’s tongue.” It is also there in St. Kitts and Nevis where it is now the national tree.
Nearby in Central America through Mexico Delonix regia is named Malinche after a maiden so beautiful, legend has it, that she caught the eye of Hernán Cortez who, enamoured with her charms, spared her people the ravages of his otherwise rampaging conquistadors.
Having experienced the Flamboyant in bloom, those with the room and desire will be happy to learn that it tolerates severe pruning, so can be cultivated in conservatory containers or even as bonsai specimens. Propagation can be achieved by seed, which must be soaked in water for more than a day prior to sowing. Even then it may be a decade or more before flowering commences so cuttings are usually preferred to shorten the delay.
