Many of you don’t know my name, but most of you know my shape. I am this tree whose large red flowers glow in summer. I become like a red umbrella in the color of flame, under which people take shelter from the heat of summer. God created me to be a shade tree in hot countries. I am the Poinciana tree.
Original habitat: My original habitat is the island of Madagascar, but now I am widespread in the world, especially in hot countries.
The shape of the Poinciana tree: I am a perennial, deciduous tree, reaching a height of fifteen meters or more. My strong trunk ends with many intertwined branches spreading horizontally, forming a large canopy that is bare in winter and until early summer.
Fruiting and blooming times: In the month of June, my green leaves begin to appear quickly and abundantly. My leaves are like large feathers with rows of oval-shaped leaflets with rounded tips. As for my fruits, they are long pods, each containing forty hard seeds.
Changing seasons: In a few days from the beginning of summer, I shine with green color, then my fiery red flowers bloom and grow abundantly. In late summer, my large, fragile flowers begin to fall, spreading red circular carpets on the ground beneath me.
With the entry of autumn, my delicate leaflets begin to fall like light rain, covering the ground and the heads of people passing under me. With the beginnings of winter, I am bare-branched, as if I were a dead tree. I remain like this until summer returns.
The Jacaranda tree: These same changes affect another tree very similar to me called the Jacaranda. She is almost my sister, although her original habitat is Peru in South America.
The shape of the Jacaranda tree: Jacaranda branches are like mine, spreading horizontally to form a wide canopy. Her leaflets are fine like mine. The biggest difference is the color of the Jacaranda roots that appear in spring before the leaves. They have a beautiful violet color, but they are short-lived. Jacaranda opens her violet canopy with the beginning of rising spring temperatures and early summer.
The red tree beside her violet sister: After her, I take the banner and open my red canopy until the end of summer. When temperatures drop and the heat of the sun calms, I lose my flowers and leaves, and I stand bare-branched beside my sister Jacaranda, who preceded me and endures through winter.
She waits for spring to open her violet canopy, and I follow her by opening my red canopy. Everything at its appointed time… Glory be to God, giver of beauty and mercy!