Blue Jacaranda
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The Blue Jacaranda, more often known simply as the "Jacaranda", is a tropical tree native to the Amazon Basin that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its beautiful and long-lasting blue flowers. Older sources give it the systematic name Jacaranda acutifolia, but it is nowadays more usually classified as Jacaranda mimosifolia. It is also known as the Black Poui, or as the fern tree. In scientific usage, the name "Jacaranda" refers to the genus Jacaranda, which has many other members, but in horticultural and everyday usage, it nearly always means the Blue Jacaranda.
The Blue Jacaranda has been cultivated in almost every part of the world where there is no risk of frost (established trees can however tolerate brief spells of temperatures down to around -7 degrees Celsius). In the United States, it can be grown in many southern states, if necessary in containers. It is only regarded as naturalised in Miami-Dade County, Florida and Hawaii. It is regarded as an invasive species in South Africa and Queensland, Australia.
The tree grows to a height of 5 to 15 metres. Its bark is thin and grey-brown in colour, smooth when the tree is young though it eventually becomes finely scaly. The twigs are slender and slightly zigzag; they are a light reddish-brown in colour. The flowers are up to 5cm long, and are grouped in 30cm panicles. They appear in spring and early summer, and last for up to two months. They are followed by woody seed pods, about 5cm in diameter, which contain numerous winged seeds. The Blue Jacaranda is cultivated even in areas where it rarely blooms, for the sake of its large compound leaves. These are up to 45cm long and compound, with leaflets little more than 1 cm long.
The taxonomic status of the Blue Jacaranda is unsettled. ITIS regards the older name, Jacaranda acutifolia, as a synonym for J. mimosifolia. However, some modern taxonomists maintain the distinction between these two species, regarding them as geographically distinct: J. acutifolia is endemic to Peru, while J. mimisifoloa is native to Bolivia and Argentina. On this basis, cultivated forms should be treated as J. mimisifolia, since they are believed to derive from Argentinian stock. Other synonyms for the Blue Jacaranda are Jacaranda chelonia and J. ovalifolia. The Blue Jacaranda belongs to the section Monolobos of the genus Jacaranda.