Caesalpinia gilliesii (Hook.) Benth.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Caesalpinia gilliesii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/caesalpinia/caesalpinia-gilliesii/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

Genus

Caesalpinia

Synonyms

Poinciana gilliesii Hook.

Other taxa in genus

Caesalpinia japonica

Glossary

corolla: The inner whorl of the perianth. Composed of free or united petals often showy.
glabrous: Lacking hairs smooth. glabrescent Becoming hairless.
imparipinnate: Odd-pinnate; (of a compound leaf) with a central rachis and an uneven number of leaflets due to the presence of a terminal leaflet. (Cf. paripinnate.)

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Caesalpinia gilliesii' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/caesalpinia/caesalpinia-gilliesii/). Accessed 2024-04-19.

Caesalpinia gilliesii adding its exoticism to a luxuriant border at the JC Raulston Arboretum, June 2019. Image John Grimshaw.

A deciduous shrub or small tree, with slender erect branches; young shoots covered with gland-tipped hairs. Leaves doubly pinnate, about 8 in. long, composed of about nine to eleven pairs of primary divisions 11⁄2 in. long, each of which carries numerous small, glabrous, oblong leaflets, about 1⁄4 in. long and 1⁄12 in. wide. Racemes terminal, stiffly erect, 1 ft or more long, carrying from thirty to forty flowers. Each flower is borne on a downy stalk, 1 in. or more long, the petals rich yellow, 11⁄4 in. long, forming a rather saucer-shaped corolla. Sepals 3⁄4 in. long; stamens scarlet, 21⁄2 to 3 in. long; pod 3 in. long, 5⁄8 in. wide. Bot. Mag., t. 4006.

Native of the Argentine Republic, especially in the province of Mendoza; introduced in 1829, but too tender to have become generally cultivated. It succeeds quite well on a south wall at Kew, where it has grown 25 ft high, and flowered nearly every year in July and August. The plant now in the collection grows against a wall of the Temperate House. It has no chance at Kew in the open ground, but in a garden at Ryde, Isle of Wight, it succeeded admirably. The rich yellow flowers with long scarlet stamens give a singularly brilliant effect.

Foliage on Erythrostemon gilliesii, from a plant in the garden of the late Erik Windey, founder of Arboretum Het Leen Eeklo, Belgium (14 September 2019). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Imparipinnate leaves on Erythrostemon gilliesii, with the pinnae in 6–15 pairs plus an additional terminal one (Erik Windey, Belgium – 14 September 2019). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Stipules on Erythrostemon gilliesii (Erik Windey, Belgium – 14 September 2019). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Terminal pinna (which is sometimes absent) on Erythrostemon gilliesii (Erik Windey, Belgium – 14 September 2019). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Distant, small oblong pinnules on Erythrostemon gilliesii (Erik Windey, Belgium – 14 September 2019). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.

Pinulles on Erythrostemon gilliesii, with lower surface exposed, showing the central 'midvein' (Erik Windey, Belgium – 14 September 2019). Image © Jan De Langhe - Arboretum Wespelaar.