Jacarandá do Pará III

You may be surprised to learn that jacarandá do Pará (Pará is our state here in the Amazon) isn't a true jacaranda. In fact it's not a jacaranda at all, the genus is Dalbergia. I often wonder how the tree came to be called as such but I haven't found any information in that regard. My guess is that it's because of the purple blooms, which look very much like the ones on some species of the true jacaranda trees. The genus Dalbergia is in honor of Nils Dalberg, Swedish naturalist and physician, 1736-1820.

Although jacarandá do Pará is more common to the sandy tropical savanna soils around the Tapajós River, I planted a few of them at Bosque Santa Lúcia some six years ago. The largest of trees were located in front of the lot where the old Poço Branco school and chapel used to be. These structures were rebuilt in the village down the road, so I planted a lot of trees in that area. Thinking that I could possibly find some seeds on these trees, I made a visit to the area day before yesterday. Not to my surprise, I discovered that the crews from the power line project had chainsawed them all down, along with many other noble trees I had planted.