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Firmiana (Sterculia) colorata
A nice small caudiciform that grows on limestone cliffs.
It is a very ornamental plant with scarlet or deep orange flowers
looking like a mass of corals on the nude branches in spring .
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Traditional Uses: Hindus and Ceylonese
regard it as a sacred plant. Branches yield fibre of inferior quality
and branches with young leaves are used in India as fodder.
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Family:
Sterculiaceae (This family might
been incorporated in the Malvaceae family now, as sub-family:
Sterculioideae, tribe: Sterculieae)
Scientific name:
Firmiana colorata (Roxb.) Robert Brown
in Benn.,Pl.Jav.Rar. 235. 1844. Blatter & Millard,
Beaut.Ind. Tr. ed.2. 79.1954 ; S. Abedin, l.c.
This plant have often been confused with Gyrocarpus americanus/jacquinii,
but it's leaves are almost flat, and it have no smell. (while the leaves
of Gyrocarpus gives off a pronounced odour of dung)
But these two species are
surprisingly
similar, although from different
families, the growth rate, dormancy, and foliage are almost identical
and it is really difficult to tell the two apart when not in flower.
Origin: Origin: Southern Yunnan, Myanmar, Thailand,
Vietnam, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), south west India eastwards to Burma, Bangla
Desh,
Habitat:
Habitat:
It is mostly a jungle species that grows on limestone or
on other well drained soil with (usually) large water availability and
some sun, but it can endure long periods of dryness. It is rarely
cultivated in urban gardens in tropical areas.
Conservation status: Not
threatened.
Common English Names include: Coloured Sterculia, Iwil-iwil, Indian almond, Po-fai, Kaushi.
Synonyms:
- Erythropsis
colorata (Roxburgh )
Burkill1931
- Sterculia
colorata
William Roxburgh 1795
- Erythropsis
roxburghiana
- Firmiana
fulgens
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Description:
Firmiana colorata is a small-medium deciduous tree that
tend to be a little slim by age. It may grow to a up to 15 meters high.
Trunk and branches: straight, sometimes ridged; short branches
forming a compact and well-balanced crown. S
Bark: ash coloured ; young shoots covered in grey pubescence.
Leaves: Crowded towards the end of branches; simple, lamina
usually palmately 3-5-lobed, almost heart-shaped, 10-20 cm long, 12-25
cm broad; stipules lanceolate., petiole 7-25 cm long. the foliage is
almost odouless.
Flowers: The flowers are red-orange pubescent , each about an
inch long, tubular, no petals, calyx with 5 triangular teeth. on short,
terminal panicles
Blooming season: March-May and appears before the leaves.
Fruit: It is a follicle, membranous, deceptively leaf-like but
nothing like the tree's real leaves.
Seeds: Yellow, wrinkled or smooth, ovoid, apptrox 1 cm long,
usually just 1 or 2 , borne along the edges of the open, leaf-like
fruit.
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The foliage
is reminiscent of a grape leaf.
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Cultivation: It is easy to grow and puts on a fanciful display,
but it takes years to develop and is not a plant for the impatient
gardener. It needs a well-drained soil (e.g. use a mixture for cactus +
normal potting soil) with the caudex planted largely above the soil
surface. It needs regular watering during the active growing season
without too much water. Let the soil become rather dry before watering
again. Reduce watering gradually when the leaves dries out in autumn, or
else the caudex may rot. Restore normal watering frequency when the
leaves starts growing again in spring. Give it plenty of sun, but keep
the caudex bulb shaded. Protect from heat in summer. A clay pot is best.
It should be overwintered in the greenhouse at temperatures over 12°C
(avoid letting temperatures drop lower than 5° C). In the pot
they are leafless for about six months
Propagation: It can be raised either from stem cuttings and from
fresh seeds. |
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