Delonix regia                                                        Photo Fiona Sunquist ©

In south Florida the brilliant red-orange flowers of the tropical Poinciana, or Flame tree, line the roadsides from May through July. The tree is native to Madagascar but is grown as an ornamental in the tropics throughout the world.

Individual poinciana trees can bloom for more than a month and the flowers eventually become long black pods that hang on the tree through the winter. The delicate fern-like leaves produce a sort of herbicide when they fall, killing the grass beneath the tree.

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