Common name: Butterfly tree

BButterfly tree is a handsome flowering tree originating in Central America, its native range extending from southern Mexico to Panama and where it occurs in humid and seasonally dry forests from near sea level up to 1000 m (3300 ft) elevation.

It may reach heights of up to 30 m (98 ft) in natural forests, though on open sites is more commonly 6 to 15 m (20 to 50 ft) tall, with a short trunk 20 to 30 cm (0.7 to 1.1 ft) in diameter supporting a densely leafy rounded crown. The bark is grey-brown and peels in strips.

The leaves are elongated oval, 7 to 15 cm (2.8 to 6 in) long, finely toothed on the margins, tapered at both ends, glossy dark green on top, dull green underneath and alternately arranged along the branches. They remain on the tree year-round where the dry season is short but fall where it is long or pronounced, leaving the branches bare for a short period, just before flowering.

The flowers are five-petaled and are the most visually striking feature of the tree, being large, up to 18 cm (7 in) wide, deep orange or less commonly yellow and give off a strongly sweet fragrance, reminding of ripe apricots. They bloom in the dry season, which coincides with winter to spring in its native range. 

Fertilized flowers are followed by oblong seed capsules up to 4 cm (1.5 in) long, green when young and with a covering of soft hairs, becoming light brown and woody when mature.

Use

Butterfly Tree makes a good candidate for a flowering tree to add interest to gardens, landscapes and parks in warm subtropical and tropical areas. The flowers also produce nectar that is accessible to hummingbirds, the tree's specialist pollinators, adding to the tree's overall interest.

The wood is medium-weight, pale brown but with a low lustre and is inclined to warp badly. It also has low natural resistance to rot and decay, which restricts its use to indoors only. It has little to no history in the timber trade and is without any known commercial value.

General interest

The tree's striking beauty when in flower caused the 20th century American botanist Paul Standley to remark: "They easily rank among the showiest trees found in the Mexican and Central American forests."

Climate

Grows naturally in humid subtropical and tropical lowland to mid-elevation climates, generally areas with annual lows of 16 to 25°C, annual highs of 26 to 35°C, annual rainfall of 1500 to 4500 mm and a dry season of 4 months or less.

Growing

New plants are usually started from seed but can also be propagated from cuttings.

Performs best on free- to slow-draining clay, loam and sand soils of a moderately acid to neutral nature, generally with a pH of 5.0 to 7.5, and on sites with full to partial sun exposure.

Problem features

There does not appear to be any record of it anywhere as a weed or invasive species. It is assessed as a low weed risk species for Hawaii, by the Hawaii Pacific Weed Risk Assessment (HPWRA) project.

Books

• Menninger, E. A. 1962, Flowering trees of the world for tropics and warm climates, 1st ed., Heathside Press, New York

• Morton, J. F. 1971, Exotic plants, Golden Press, New York

• Record, S. J. & Hess, R. W., 1972, Timbers of the New World, Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut & Arno Press, New York

• Standley P. C., & Steyermark J. A. 1946 to 1976, Flora of Guatemala (25 volumes), Botany series publication (Chicago Field Museum of Natural History), Chicago, Illinois

• Standley, P. C. 1920, Trees and shrubs of Mexico, Government Printing Office (GPO), Washington D.C.

• Standley, P.C. & Steyermark, J.A., 1940 - 1947, Studies of Central American plants (7 volumes), Botanical Series, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago