红花羊蹄甲 hong hua yang ti jia

Trees. Branches numerous; branchlets slender, pubescent. Petiole 3.5-4 cm, brownish pubescent; leaf blade orbicular or suborbicular, 8.5-13 × 9-14 cm, leathery, abaxially puberulent, adaxially glabrous, primary veins 11-13, base cordate or trun­cate, apex bilobed to 1/4-1/3, lobes rounded or narrowly rounded. Inflorescence racemose, terminal or axillary, or sev­eral racemes together forming a panicle, pubescent; bracts and bracteoles triangular, ca. 3 mm. Floral buds fusiform. Hypan­thium tubular. Calyx spathe ca. 2.5 cm, with greenish or light reddish ridges. Petals purplish, lanceolate, 5-8 × 2.5-3 cm, shortly clawed. Fertile stamens 5, with 3 longer. Staminodes 2-5, threadlike. Ovary prominently stalked, pubescent. Legume not produced. Fl. Nov-Mar.

Frequent in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Taiwan, and Yunnan [widely cultivated].

This is a hybrid between Bauhinia purpurea and B. variegata. First collected from a garden in Hong Kong, it is now widely cultivated in the tropics as an ornamental tree.