It is a shrub growing to 3 m tall. In climates with few to no frosts, this plant will grow larger and is semievergreen. In Hawaii this plant is evergreen and grows over 5 m tall. Grown in climates with light to moderate freezing, plant will die back to the ground depending on cold, but will rebound in mid- to late spring. This species is more sensitive to cold than others. The leaves are bipinnate, 20–40 cm long, bearing three to 10 pairs of pinnae, each with six to 10 pairs of leaflets 15–25 mm long and 10–15 mm broad. The flowers are borne in racemes up to 20 cm long, each flower with five yellow, orange, or red petals. The fruit is a pod 6–12 cm long.
Taxonomy
Poinciana pulcherrima is a synonym of Caesalpina pulcherrima.
All seeds of Caesalpinia are poisonous. However, the seeds of some species are edible before they reach maturity or after treatment.
Traditional medicine
, a 17th-century artist, encountered this plant in the Dutch colony of Surinam. In her work, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, Merian recorded that African slaves and native Indian populations used the flos pavonis or peacock flower as an abortifacient in their practice of traditional medicine. She wrote:
The Indians, who are not treated well by their Dutch masters, use the seeds to abort their children, so that their children will not become slaves like they are. The black slaves from Guinea and Angola have demanded to be well treated, threatening to refuse to have children. They told me this themselves.
The leaves, flower, bark, and seeds of C. pulcherrima were also used by American Indians in traditional medicine as abortifacients and for suicide by enslaved peoples. The extract of shade-dried flowers has been shown to arrest the cell cycle, and cause the mitochondria to commit apoptosis and necroptosis.
Ornamental
C. pulcherrima is the most widely cultivated species in the genus Caesalpinia. It is a striking ornamental plant, widely grown in domestic and public gardens in warm climates with mild winters, and has a beautiful inflorescence in yellow, red, and orange. Its small size and the fact that it tolerates pruning well allows it to be planted in groups to form a hedgerow; it can be also used to attract hummingbirds. In cultivation in the UK this plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.
