Delonix

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Delonix

Description

Trees unarmed. Leaves bipinnate. Inflorescences axillary, racemose, aggregated near the ends of the branchlets; bracts small, inconspicuous, deciduous or persistent. Flowers large, showy, bisexual. Sepals 5, valvate. Petals 5, obovate, transversely elliptic or reniform, conspicuously clawed. Stamens 10, fertile, exserted; filaments pubescent or tomentose below; anthers dorsifixed, longitudinally dehiscing. Ovary shortly stipitate, pubescent to glabrous, many-ovuled; style about equalling the length of stamens. Seeds transverse, hard, oblong-subcylindrical to oblong- elliptic.

Distribution

Madagascar present, from E Africa through Arabia to India present
Species 10, from E Africa through Arabia to India, most of the species occurring in Madagascar. One species, with magnificent scarlet flowers, is widely cultivated throughout the Tropics.

Citation

Watson & Dallwitz 1983: Gen. Leg.-Caesalp.: 23.
Polhill & J.E. Vidal 1981 – In: Polhill & Raven, Adv. Leg. Syst. 1: 92