(Golden Shower, Indian Laburnum)

Spectacular in flower, the golden shower tree sheds most of its leaves to highlight the many pendent yellow strings of flowers in spring and summer. Native to southern Asia, it is a semi-deciduous tropical tree that is somewhat slow-growing, attaining an open but broad canopy.

The short trunk has pale smooth to platy bark, while the leaves are bright green and pinnate, having many small leaflets arranged on a petiole leaf stem. The leaves emerge slightly downy and silver in color before greening...

(Appleblossom Cassia, Javanese Cassia, Pink and White Shower Tree)

With a spreading, irregular, tiered habit, the appleblossom cassia is covered with variably pink flowers in the warmest months of the tropical dry season. This Indonesian tree is very briefly deciduous just prior to or during the flowering display in springtime. The trunk's bark is smooth and gray, but occasional spines or woody spurs line the trunk or lower parts of branches.

Newly emerging leaves are downy, but turn matte green with age. Each leaf is compound, comprising 5 to nearly 30 oval...

(Gold Medallion Tree)

Brilliantly attractive in form and when its cheerful yellow flower clusters appear in the summer, gold medallion tree is one of the most magnificent small tropical trees. An evergreen small tree from southeastern Brazil, its spreading but elegantly rounded canopy is lined with medium to deep green leaves that have eight to twelve pairs of small oval leaflets. Large clusters of sunny yellow flowers appear most heavily in the summertime, continuing for many weeks. The blossoms occur on semi-weeping...

(Silver Cassia)

Silvery blue-green foliage and yellow buttercup-shaped flowers that appear in late winter are best ornamental features of the silver cassia. This fast-growing evergreen shrub is native to arid central Australia. It is exceptionally tolerant of dry soil, heat, frosts and hot sunlight. It looks like an acacia, but the five-petaled flowers reveal its inclusion in the genus Cassia. Silver cassia attains a wispy-looking rounded to upright, v-shaped habit.

To conserve moisture in its hot,...

(Queensland Cassia, Yellow Shower)

Showy pendent clusters of yellow flowers flop from the leafy branch tips of the Queensland cassia and later yield long, ribbed seed pods. Native to northeastern Queensland, Australia, it is found in both tropical rainforests and sunny woodland edges. It develops an open canopy of branches and foliage but maintains a spreading, coarsely rounded habit. Snap a twig and it smells of bacon.

The compound leaves comprise 10 to 16 elongated oval leaflets. They are medium bright green and leathery....

(Rainbow-shower-tree)

So floriferous and colorful when in bloom, the rainbow-shower may seem unnatural to the eye. The yellow and pink blossoms look cheerful and festive. This hybrid was created in Hawaii in the mid-20th century, and is the result of crossing golden shower (Cassia fistula) with appleblossom cassia (C. javanica). Its species name honors Hawaiian botanist Marie C. Neal. In 1965, the city of Honolulu designated the rainbow-shower its official tree.

This moderately fast-growing tree...

(Black Bean Tree, Lucky Bean, Moreton Bay Chestnut)

Lustrous, dark green leaves and reddish flowers that arise and open on the trunk and branches, and develop into large seeds make the lucky bean a beautiful and picturesque tree for very warm climates. An evergreen tree with a wide, dense and spreading shape, it is native to tropical rainforests of extreme northeastern Australia and the island of New Caledonia.

The bark is brown to grayish-brown and smells of cucumber if chopped. The leaf is pinnate, having 11-15 lustrous green leaflets that...

(Entireleaf Indian Paintbrush, Texas Paintbrush)

The fiery red plumes of Texas paintbrush cannot be missed when they bloom in spring. This native of the South Central United States and adjacent Mexico is an annual or biennial wildflower that favors prairies, grasslands and open woods where soils are well-drained and dry. Like other Castilleja it's a parasitic plant with roots that penetrate those of other plants to drain essential nutrients and moisture.

The leaves of this clump-forming wildflower are slender and green. As plants...

(Bearded Catasetum Orchid, Orchid)

A curious-looking orchid because it loses its leaves in winter, the bearded catasetum is renowned for its fragrant, long-lasting green and white flowers. It's also surprisingly easy to grow, as long as the watering regime promotes the mandatory winter dormancy. The bearded catasetum orchid is native to the rainforests of lowland northern South America, north of the Amazon River to the Caribbean.

"Catasetum" is a Greek compound word meaning "down bristle." This orchid genus is unique in having...

(Catasetum Orchid, Orchid)

Winter deciduous and producing small fragrant flowers in summer, the two-colored catasetum orchid's blooms are either predominantly russet red and white or yellow-green. This epiphytic (tree-dwelling) orchid is native to the lowland, hot rainforests of Panama to northwestern Brazil.

"Catasetum" is a Greek compound word meaning "down bristle." This orchid genus is unique in having different gender flowers on the same plant. Moreover, male flowers have an antenna-like trigger device that snaps...