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Bauhinia galpinii
Also called Pride Of De Kaap, Red Butterfly Tree, Nasturtium Bauhinia, Red Bauhinia, Lowveld Bauhinia, Pride Of De Kaap Bauhinia
In Singapore: Nasturtium Bauhinia, Red Bauhinia, Red-butterfly-tree, Pride of the Cape (Cultivated in Singapore)
African plume (Bauhinia galpinii) is a shrub or small liana from southern and eastern Africa, valued for its brick-red orchid-like flowers. It is fairly drought hardy and grows best in warm, frost-free conditions with full sun.
Bauhinia galpinii is a species of shrub in the family Fabaceae. It is endemic to parts of eastern and southern Africa. The species name commemorates E. E. Galpin, a South African botanist and banker. Its common names include South African orchid bush, red bauhinia and Nasturtium bush.
It is native to Angola, to Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, and to KwaZulu Natal and the Northern Provinces of South Africa.
The species is widely cultivated as a fairly drought-hardy, non-xerophytic ornamental in the warm zones of the United States and Mexico where it has escaped cultivation and naturalised in some locations, but without any significant tendency towards invasiveness.
Its flowers are of value to pollinators, including birds, and the sheltering shrubby habit renders it popular as a nesting site for small birds. Sheep and goats can safely browse the leaves and twigs.
Dwarf White Bauhinia · Cow's-foot · Napoleon's plume · Orchid Bauhinia · Butterfly-tree · Bidi Leaf Tree · St. Thomas tree · Mountain ebony · Hong Kong Orchidtree · Orchid Trees
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Bauhinia galpinii 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.
