| General Description | Primavera Gold Tree is a medium to tall deciduous tree (18-35 m height) with a dominant cylindrical straight white or bright grey bark. It usually doesn't spread branches before 7-13 m. It has a nice rounded spreading crown, easily defined during spring due its seasonal yellow colour. |
| ID Characteristic | Large and light to whitish grey cylindrical trunk, usually branch free in the first 7 to 13 m height. Rounded elongated crown with a beautiful yellow (gold) blooming at the beginning of the spring. |
| Shape | Round shape, tall trunks with canopy between 8-15 m. |
| Landscape | Mostly used as an ornamental plant because of the beautiful gold yellow colour, urban planting for shade. It's also used to stabilize soils because of its large lateral roots. In Hawaii and Guatemala it's used as a reforesting plant. It is also a timber tree used for veneer, furniture, flooring and cabinet-work. Also used as an specimen tree. |
| Propagation | Tree propagation is both sexual and asexual. Sexual involves cleaning fruits and exposing them outdoors, under shade, and scattered inside boxes for 3 to 5 days. The seed is extracted manually by breaking the pods. They are exposed to the sun for periods of 2 hours, stirring until dry. They are then exposed outdoors under shade for 1 or 2 days to complete the drying process evenly. germination is improved by immersion in fresh water for 12 hours.
Sow seed in nursery bags or pots (1 seed per bag or pot). Seeds germinate after 12 to 18 days. Plants are ready to be transplanted to soil after 4 months, with a height of 50 to 80 centimetres tall. Plants require full sun conditions and well drained soils. Asexual per cuttings, take cuttings when the plant is active just after flowering, making sure to remove any forming fruit. The use of a rooting hormone is required and a liquid powdered type formulation at concentration 1:5 (concentrate: water). Place the cuttings in the mix that could be perlite or sand, and make sure to keep the mix moist. Roots will appear in the next 12 weeks and will reach 10 cm. After that they will be ready to transplant to bigger pots about 1 gallon big, and stay there until the plant roots totally fill the pot. They are then ready to go to the field and be planted in the ground in full sun spots free of invasive weed.
|
| Cultivation | It requires altitudes between 200 to 1000 masl (metres above sea level) to fully develop, with soils with textures from sandy loam to sandy clay loam, and pH between 5.5 to 7.5 with good drainage. Does not tolerate alkaline soils. Requires ideal temperatures between +18 °C to +30 °C, and needs an annual precipitation between 1000 to 3000 mm. This tree presents lack of physiological development in different conditions. The Gold Tree is mostly considered a tropical and subtropical tree. |
| Pests | Because of the humid habitat where this plant grows, fungi problems are around every corner. It presents problems with Fusarium and Alternaria. Normally the plants don’t die from this, but they suffer stress that affects their development. It's most common in forestall plantations, when plants don’t have enough room, or when surrounding weeds are too invasive. Foliar eating caterpillars are rarely found in these plants, however their presence can cause severe damage. |
| Notable Specimens | University of Hawaii at Manoa Campus, Honolulu, Hawaii. |
| Habitat | It is native from the humid tropics of northern South America to Mexico, and was introduced to Puerto Rico and Hawaii. It perfectly develops at altitudes between 200 to 1000 masl. It requires well drained soils, and pH between 5.5-7.5. Does not tolerate Alkaline soils. It is very tolerant to drought, but develops perfectly with 1000 to 3000 mm annual precipitation. |
| Bark/Stem Description | Straight trunk with a light or whitish grey colour. When mature, the colour changes to a darker grey, or stays light grey. It can reach between 0.5 to 1.0 m DBH. It has a cylindrical to slightly ribbed main trunk. Branches appear usually after the 7-13 m height, most of the time creating a co-dominant or multi co-dominant branches that can reach diameters from 20 to 50 cm. |
| Flower/Leaf Bud Description | Flower buds are round-shaped and enlarged at the end. They are 1 cm long and grow in panicle arrangements. The flower buds grow at the tip of the branches, and bloom before the leaves. Leaf buds are round-shaped, 0.5 cm long and grow as a palmately compound leaf. |
| Leaf Description | Palmate compound leaf, long peduncles 10-25 cm. Ovate blade with crenate margins. Light green before maturity, and light dull green colour when mature. Underside: 12-20 cm long, 5-9 cm wide. |
| Flower Description | Grows in very close groups on the tip of the branches. Starts to bloom when the tree is almost finished shedding its leaves. 35 cm long panicle flower arrangement, calyx with two hairy sepals 1.5 cm long (bell-shaped or commonly known as trumpets). Five bright hairy yellow petals 4 cm long, Perfect flower, two stamens, conical hairy form ovary with one pistil. |
| Fruit Description | Elongated pods 15-18 cm long (Fabaceae family pod form) are identified by their colour change, changing from yellowish green to brown or dark brown when mature. Its texture must be rough, and its flexibility prevents the sheath from bending (breaks when folded). Inside there are small flat seeds 7-8 mm long and 1.5 cm wide (including the flat transparent membrane). |