Mexican Bird of Paradise by leeatsjt

Photography • Flowers/Plants • posted on Mar 07, 2008

Open full image in new tab Zoom on image

Hover over top left image to zoom.
Click anywhere to exit.

Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.

Description

This is called a Mexican Bird of Paradise (Caesalpinia gilliesii), they're found all over Arizona, New Mexico and Texas mostly. This is the yellow version, there's also an orange and red version. The yellow one's get kind of scrappy looking unless you prune it to keep it thick. What I find unusual about these is after they bloom, pods form, and then in the summer, in the late evening when the air starts to cool the pods will burst and you can sit out there and listen to the popping sound. Of course, because the pods burst and the seeds go everywhere this shrub self-seeds all over the place! Can get kind of annoying.