Mexican Bird of Paradise
Erythrostemon mexicanus
Family: Fabaceae
OTHER NAMES
Mexican holdback
Spanish: tabachín del monte
CHARACTERISTICS
Large, evergreen shrub or small tree up to 15’ tall, 10’ wide. Flowers throughout the warm season with yellow flowers followed by legume pods. Plants reseed readily in the landscape.
LANDSCAPE USE
Large screening shrub or small tree.
GROWING CONDITIONS
AN EXPLANAITION OF TERMS USED
SUN full to part sun
WATER moderate to low
SOIL not picky, but well-drained
HARDINESS hardy to about 15°F
BASIN high zone
CONTAINER does moderately well in containers but will not attain full size
NUTRITION low
MAINTENANCE very little
ECOLOGY
Flowers are are nectar rich and loved by butterflies and other pollinators. Seeds used by granivorous birds. When plants are large they are great habitat plants for birds. This species is the host plant for the caterpillars of the curve-winged metalmark (Emesis emesia).
ETHNOBOTANY
In Hawaii the flowers are used in leis.
NATURAL DISTRIBUTION
It is native to the extreme lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas in the United States and south to central Mexico. Its range in Mexico includes the northeast and further south along the Gulf coast as well as the Pacific coast in Nayarit, Jalisco, Colima, and a small portion of Sinaloa.
TAXONOMY AND NAME
This plant is in the Fabaceae, the legume family. The genus Erythrostemon has 33 speciesin tropical & subtropical America.
Formerly known as Caesalpinia mexicana.
The genus name derives from the greek erythro meaning red, and stemon, Greek for stamen, a trait of some species of this genus. The species name, mexicanus, refers to the plant’s origin.
This species flowers a lot, almost anytime with warm weather. Photo by Adam Kranz, iNaturalist
The seed pods are violently dehiscent, and will spit their seeds eventually. Photo by Douglas Goldman, iNaturalist
A very typical plant in cultivation, in Phoenix. Photo by George Roark, iNaturalist
Mexican bird of paradise is usually a shrub before it becomes a tree. Photo by Jason S Grodman, iNaturalist