''Spathodea'' is a genus in the plant family Bignoniaceae. The single species it contains, ''Spathodea campanulata'', is commonly known as the African tulip tree. The tree grows between tall and is native to tropical dry forests of Africa. It has been nominated as among 100 of the "World's Worst" invaders. This tree is planted extensively as an

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

throughout the tropics and is much appreciated for its very showy reddish-orange or crimson (rarely yellow), campanulate flowers. The generic name comes from the Ancient Greek words σπαθη (''spathe'') and οιδα (''oida''), referring to the

spathe In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis or cone scale. Bracts are usually different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of ...

-like

calyx Calyx or calyce (plural "calyces"), from the Latin ''calix'' which itself comes from the Ancient Greek ''κάλυξ'' (''kálux'') meaning "husk" or "pod", may refer to: Biology * Calyx (anatomy), collective name for several cup-like structures ...

. It was identified by Europeans in 1787 on the Gold Coast of Africa.

Description

The flower bud is

ampule An ampoule (also ampul and ampule) is a small sealed vial which is used to contain and preserve a sample, usually a solid or liquid. Ampoules are usually made of glass. Modern ampoules are most commonly used to contain pharmaceuticals and chem ...

-shaped and contains water. Children sometimes play with these buds because of their ability to squirt water. The sap sometimes stains yellow on fingers and clothes. The open flowers are cup-shaped and hold rain and dew, making them attractive to many species of birds.

Flower anatomy

The African tulip tree flower produces large flamboyant reddish-orange flowers that have approximately five petals and are 8-15 cm long. The flowers are bisexual and zygomorphic. These are displayed in a terminal corymb-like raceme inflorescence. Its pedicel is approximately 6 cm long. This flower also has a yellow margin and throat. The pistil can be found at center of four stamens that is inserted on the corolla tube. This flower has a slender ovary that is superior and is two celled. The seeds of this tree are flat, thin, and broadly winged.

Species associations

In Neotropical gardens and parks, their

nectar Nectar is a sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries or nectarines, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists ...

is popular with many

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the biological family Trochilidae. With about 361 species and 113 genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but the vast majority of the species are found in the tropics aro ...

s, such as the

black-throated mango The black-throated mango (''Anthracothorax nigricollis'') is a hummingbird species native to South America and Trinidad and Tobago. Description It is 10.2 cm long and weighs 7.2g. The longish black bill is slightly decurved. The tail in b ...

(''Anthracothorax nigricollis''), the black jacobin (''Florisuga fusca''), or the

gilded hummingbird The gilded sapphire (''Hylocharis chrysura''), also known as the gilded hummingbird, is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.Remsen, ...

(''Hylocharis chrysura'').Baza Mendonça & dos Anjos (2005) The wood of the tree is soft and is used for nesting by many hole-building birds such as

barbets Barbet may refer to: * Barbet (dog), a dog breed * Various birds in the infraorder Ramphastides ** African barbet, part of the bird family Lybiidae ** New World barbet, the bird family Capitonidae ** Asian barbet The Asian barbets are a family ...

. de QUEIROZ, A. C. M., VENTURIERI, G., VENTURIERI, G., & de OLIVEIRA JUNIOR, M. C. M. (2012). Effect of toxicity of nectar and pollen of african tulip tree (Spathodea campanulata) on Melipona fasciculata and M. seminigra (Apidae, Meliponini). In Embrapa Amazônia Oriental-Resumo em anais de congresso (ALICE). In: ENCONTRO SOBRE ABELHAS, 10., 2012, Ribeirão Preto. Anais... Ribeirão Preto: FUNPEC, 2012 Unfortunately the flowers have a natural defence killing bees, and it is thought various other species who harvest its pollen.

Geographic distribution

*Native to: Angola, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia *Exotic in: Australia, Bangladesh, Brazil,

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

, Costa Rica, Cuba, Fiji, India, Jamaica, Mauritius, Mexico, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Sri Lanka, Zanzibar, Hawaii, Philippines It has become an

invasive species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, invasive species ad ...

in many tropical areas, such as Hawaii, Queensland (Australia), Fiji, Papua New Guinea, South Africa and the wet and intermediate zones of Sri Lanka. ''Spathodea campanulata'' is a declared class 3 pest species in Queensland, Australia, under the ''Land Protection (Pest and Stock Route Management) Act 2002''. It is known to be toxic to Australian native stingless bees, such as ''Lipotriches (Austronomia) flavoviridis''.

Pests and diseases

In Uganda, two lepidopteran species, two termite species, and one bark beetle attack ''S. campanulata''. In Puerto Rico nine insect species in the orders

Hemiptera Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, Reduviidae, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. ...

Hymenoptera Hymenoptera is a large order (biology), order of insects, comprising the sawfly, sawflies, wasps, bees, and ants. Over 150,000 living species of Hymenoptera have been described, in addition to over 2,000 extinct ones. Many of the species are Par ...

Lepidoptera Lepidoptera ( ) is an order (biology), order of insects that includes butterfly, butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans). About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 Family (biology), families and 46 Taxonomic r ...

, and Thysanoptera have been reported as feeding on various parts of ''S. campanulata''. The species is quite susceptible to butt and heart rot; wood of the tree rots quickly when in contact with the ground.

Common names

*Afrikaans: , *Kannada: () *English: African tulip tree, fountain tree, Nandi flame, Nile flame, squirt tree, tulip tree, Uganda flame, Flame Tree of Thika *French: *Bangla: () *Hindi: () *Malayalam: ''African Poomaram'' () *Luganda: *Luhya: *Malay: *Sinhala: , *Spanish: , , , , in Puerto Rico . *Telugu: (), () *Swahili: , *Tamil: ()* *Trade name: Nandi flame

Gallery

File:African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata) flower in Narshapur, AP W IMG 0721.jpg, File:African Tulip Tree (Spathodea campanulata) at Secunderabad W IMG 6626.jpg, File:Bark I IMG_2807.jpg, File:Spathodea campanulata A.jpg, File:Spathodea_campanulata.jpg, File:Spathodea campanulata, saad, Krantzkloof NR.jpg, File:Yellow Spathodea Santa Cruz de Tenerife.JPG, File:Flower of Spathodea campanulata at Muzhappilangad .jpg, File:火焰樹 Spathodea campanulata 20210319195317 01.jpg, File:火焰樹 Spathodea campanulata 20210319195317 02.jpg, File:火焰樹 Spathodea campanulata 20210319195317 04.jpg, File:火焰樹 Spathodea campanulata 20210319195317 05.jpg,

Footnotes

References

* (2005): Beija-flores (Aves, Trochilidae) e seus recursos florais em uma área urbana do Sul do Brasil ummingbirds (Aves, Trochilidae) and their flowers in an urban area of southern Brazil ortuguese with English abstract''Revista Brasileira de Zoologia'' 22(1): 51–59. PDF fulltext
* http://www.issg.org/database/species/ecology.asp?si=75

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q16034822, from2=Q387442 Bignoniaceae Flora of East Tropical Africa Flora of Northeast Tropical Africa Flora of South Tropical Africa Trees of Africa Trees of Angola Trees of Ethiopia Flora of Ghana Flora of Sudan Flora of Zambia Afrotropical realm flora Garden plants of Africa Ornamental trees Invasive plant species in Sri Lanka Monotypic Lamiales genera Trees of Guatemala