Tropicals, Woody > Schizolobium > Schizolobium parahyba > Schizolobium parahyba
Schizolobium parahyba
Brazilian Fern Tree, Brazilian Fire-Tree, Tower Tree, Mexican Fern Tree, Yellow Jacaranda, Reach for the Sky, Guapuruvu
Origin: South America including Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. Also in Central America from Panama to southern Mexico.
| Family |
| Fabaceae |
| Genus |
| Schizolobium |
| Species |
| parahyba |
| Category |
| Tropicals, Woody |
| Type |
| Tree (deciduous) |
| Synonyms |
| Caesalpinia parahyba,. Cassia parahyba, Schizolobium amazonicum,. Schizolobium excelsum, Schizolobium glutinosum, Schizolobium kellermanii Pittier |
| USDA Hardiness Zone |
| 9b - 11 |
| Canadian Hardiness Zone |
| Requires cold season protection under glass. |
| RHS Hardiness Zone |
| H3 - H1c |
| Temperature (°C) |
| (-3.8) to above 4.5 |
| Temperature (°F) |
| 25 - 40 |
| Height |
| 20 - 35 m |
| Spread |
| 5 m |
Photographs
Cultivars
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Description and Growing Information
Flowering Period
| General Description |
| A deciduous tree with a wide-spreading and flat-topped crown. |
| Landscape |
| The tree is very fast-growing and also fixes atmospheric nitrogen. It is an excellent choice for restoring land to forest and for establishing woodland gardens. |
| Cultivation |
| Grow best in a sunny position, and in a well drained, moist, loamy to clay soil. Established trees are drought tolerant, and prefers a fertile soil, but can succeed in soils of low fertility. |
| Shape |
| A non-branching tree and topped by distinctive fern tree-like crown when young. Mature tree has a sparse open crown. |
| Growth |
| Fast |
| ID Characteristic |
| The tree has brittle branches that break off easily in the wind. |
| Habitat |
| Atlantic rainforest, most commonly in open, secondary formations, preferring valley bottoms, alluvial plains and along rivers, forming dense groups in hillside depressions |
| Bark/Stem Description |
| A straight cylindrical stem; it can be 60 - 80 cm in diameter. |
| Leaf Description |
| Large pinnately-compound leaves up to 1 m in length consisting of 15-20 pairs of elliptical leaflets 2-3 cm in length. |
| Flower Description |
| Golden yellow flowers produced in racemes. |
| Fruit Description |
| A brown, hard, 8-12 cm long, turn black and crack open when mature to release single oval flattened seed. |
| Notable Specimens |
| Harry P. Leu Gardens, Orlando, Florida, United States of America. |
| Propagation |
| By stem cuttings and seeds. |
| Ethnobotanical Uses (Disclaimer) |
| It can be grown for fuel (annual wood production can be up to 20 tonnes per hectare) or as a pioneer to restore woodland. |
References
Tropical Plants Database, Ken Fern. tropical.theferns.info. 2019-06-06.
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