Pride of Barbados

Caesalpinia pulcherrima

Characteristics

Culture

Pride of Barbados, Caesalpinia pulcherrima, is a member of the pea family.  It is referred to by other names including Barbados Flowerfence, Peacock Flower, Mexican Bird of Paradise, Dwarf Flamboyan, Caesalpinia, and Dwarf Poinciana.  Pride-of-Barbados dies to the ground following frost or freezing temperatures, but in zone 8b, it comes back reliable in the middle of spring. Pride of Barbados has incredibly showy blossoms of orange and red. The striking orange-red flowers are an attention grabber. This is a fast growing, but short lived plant. It is moderately tolerant of salty conditions. Caesalpinia pulcherrima flowers benefit from pruning, and can be shaped to tree form or shrubby bush form.

Noteworthy Characteristics

 

In the tropics it gets 15-20′ tall and its ungainly, wide spreading branches can cover about the same width. The cultivation of Caesalpinia pulcherrima in Texas is usually a semi-dwarfed hardy or tender-perennial shrub.  It grows to a typical size of 5-8′ tall and will grow that large even after freezing to the ground the previous winter. The stem, branches and petioles are armed with sharp spines and the leaves are fernlike and twice compound, with many small, oval leaflets.

Pride of Barbados’ flower lives up to its name with incredibly showy blossoms of orange and red. The flowers are bowl shaped, 2-3″ across, with five crinkled, unequal red and orange petals, and ten prominent bright red stamens that extend way beyond the corolla.  Even when not in bloom, the foliage of Pride of Barbados is interesting, offering soft textured very finely divided, broad, bipinnately compound leaves 8 to 15 in. long.

Problems

No serious insect or disease problems.

Garden Uses

Specimen plant or in a mixed shrub border.