Compilation
Bauhinia variegata

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Name

Identification
Bauhinia variegata L. [family FABACEAE ]
Related name
  • Bauhinia variegata
Common name
  • mountain ebony (USA, Bates); orchid tree (USA, Bates)., Burkill, H.M. 1985. The useful plants of west tropical Africa, Vol. 3

Flora

Entry for Bauhinia variegata [family FABACEAE]
Herbarium
South African National Biodiversity Institute, Compton Herbarium, Cape Town (SAM)
Collection
Flora of Southern Africa
Resource Type
Reference Sources
Entry From
Flora of South Africa, (2003) Author: Dr J.P. Roux
Names
Bauhinia variegata [family FABACEAE]
Information
Unarmed tree to 10 m high. Leaves broadly ovate, often broader than long, (3,5) 5-14 cm long, 6-14 cm wide, bilobed apically to about J-way down, coriaceous, 11-13-nerved, lower surface finely puberulous. Inflorescence a few-flowered, abbreviated, axillary or terminal raceme. Flowers on thick striate puberulous 1,5-2 cm long pedicels which merge gradually into the receptacle; receptacle 1-2,5 cm long; bracts and brac-teoles ovate, pubescent, short, rapidly deci­duous. Flower-buds: upper part (i.e. sepals) fusiform, turgid, not winged or ridged. Calyx-tube splitting down one side and remaining spathaceous and entire. Petals up to 5 cm long and 3 cm wide, glabrous, sometimes margins more or less crisped. Fertile stamens 5; reduced stamens and staminodes 5, 1/3 as long as fertile ones. Pod oblanceolate-oblong, up to 30 cm long, 1,8-2,5 cm wide.
Habitat
Two varieties of B. variegata are recognized, namely, var. variegata in which the petals are blotched or striped with purple, and var. Candida Voigt in which the petals are white or partly yellow but without any purple. Unfortunately there is no accurate indication of the flower colour on most of the specimens collected in our area but both varieties are represented among the cited specimens.
Use
7. Bauhinia variegata L., Sp. PI. 1 : 375 (1753); Wight & Am., Prodr. Fl. Pen. Ind. Or. 296 (1834); Bak. in Fl. Brit. Ind. 2 : 284 (1878); De Wit in Reinwardtia 3 : 411 (1956);Brenanin F.T.E.A. Legum.-Caesalp.: 208 (1967). Type from south-east Asia.
Range
Introduced from south-east Asia and widely planted in our area for ornament. Relatively few specimens have been collected in our area and the actual distribution of this species greatly exceeds that indicated by the cited specimens below.

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