Monday, May 05, 2008

Jacarandá do Pará, flowers

Jacarandá do Pará (Dalbergia spruceana) is better adapted to the tropical savannas in the Santarém region, but I've planted a few of them at Bosque Santa Lúcia. Most were destroyed when Celpa, the electrical company, installed the power line through Poço Branco. This image of jacarandá do Pará flowers was actually taken yesterday in the back yard of our home here in Santarém. These are the first flowers to appear on a tree that found a home here at home. They are so subtle in size and color, they can go unnoticed. As reported in other posts on this tree, jacarandá do Pará isn't really a jacaranda at all. As the Latin name indicates, it's a Dalbergia. My guess is that the common name came about because of the similarity of flowers, but I don't know for sure if that's true. The real jacaranda tree (Jacaranda mimosifolia) is native of southern Brazil and northern Argentina. It's such a beautiful tree when blooming, it been adopted in many countries, including South Africa. Pretoria is also known as "Jacaranda City".

1 comment:

Sandpiper (Lin) said...

I've seen the Jacarandas in bloom in South Africa and the sight of them is breathtaking. I think they are now considered a pest there.