Mexican Orchid Tree
Bauhinia divaricata
Family: Fabaceae
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: pom pom orchid tree, bull hoof
CHARACTERISTICS
Small, semi-deciduous, flowering shrub or tree, reaching as high as 10-20’ but often a shrub to 8’ depending on how protected plants are from cold. Small, delicate white five-petaled flowers are produced from late spring to early summer. Sometimes the species comes in a pink flowering form. They can flower again in response to a good monsoon. Legume bean pods follow the flowers.
LANDSCAPE USE
This is a small ornamental shrub or tree. Its small size makes it a good screen, and patio tree.
GROWING CONDITIONS
AN EXPLANAITION OF TERMS USED
SUN part sun to bright shade. Plants can be grown in full sun but can get beat up by summer. Avoid reflective heat.
WATER moderate water
SOIL good drainage preferred, some amendment
HARDINESS frost may damage the tips and temperatures in the low 20s°F may cause more damage, but plants grow back quickly the following growing season.
BASIN middle
CONTAINER does ok in a large container
NUTRITION moderate to low
MAINTENANCE very little
ECOLOGY
Flowers are attractive to bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Larval host for the Long-tailed skipper (Urbanus proteus).
ETHNOBOTANY
Not much is known about human uses for this species besides ornamental uses.
NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
This species is distributed all through tropical lowland Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America to Costa Rica.
TAXONOMY AND NAME
Formerly known as Bauhinia mexicana.
This species is in the Fabaceae, the legume family. There are 352 recognized species in Bauhinia with a pantropical distribution. The name of the Bauhinia divaricata plant comes from the genus Bauhinia, which is named after the Swiss-French botanists Gaspard and Johann Bauhin. The species name divaricata means "with a spreading and straggling habit".
Bauhinia divaricata on iNaturalist
Bauhinia divaricata at the UA Campus Arboretum where you can find some mature specimens in Tucson.
This species can become a tree of between 10-20' tall in the right location (protected from severe cold). Photo by Ana Josefa López Sandoval, iNaturalist
Some populations have pink flowers. This individual seems to have both white and pink flowers. Photo by Francisco Emilio Roldán Velasco, iNaturalist
Plants can often be less arborescent and more bushy. Photo by Luis Enrique Flores Hernández, iNaturalist