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Bauhinia acuminata
Also called Bauhinia
Dwarf white bauhinia is a small, fragrant flowering shrub from tropical Southeast Asia, grown for its large white orchid-like blooms. It does best in warm, sunny conditions with moderate watering.
Bauhinia acuminata is a species of flowering shrub native to tropical southeastern Asia. Common names include dwarf white bauhinia, white orchid-tree and snowy orchid-tree. The exact native range is obscure due to extensive cultivation, but probably from Malaysia, Indonesia (Java, Borneo, Kalimantan, Lesser Sunda Islands), and the Philippines.
It grows two to three meters tall. Like the other Bauhinia species, the leaves are bilobed, shaped like an ox hoof; they are 6 to 15 centimetres (2+1⁄4 to 6 in) long and broad, with the apical cleft up to 5 centimetres (2 in) deep; the petiole is 1.5 to 4 centimetres (1⁄2 to 1+1⁄2 in) long. The flowers are fragrant, 8 to 12 centimetres (3+1⁄4 to 4+3⁄4 in) in diameter, with five white petals, ten yellow-tipped stamens and a green stigma. The fruit is a pod 7.5 to 15 centimetres (3 to 6 in) long and 1.5 to 1.8 centimetres (1⁄2 to 3⁄4 in) broad.
Cow's-foot · African plume · Napoleon's plume · Orchid Bauhinia · Butterfly-tree · Bidi Leaf Tree · St. Thomas tree · Mountain ebony · Hong Kong Orchidtree · Orchid Trees
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bauhinia acuminata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
