Plant Family: Belongs to the Caesalpiniaceae family, which includes Golden Shower (Cassia fistula) and Flamboyant (Delonix regia).

Description: Located near Agriculture Division?s office in Gardens; fast growing, medium sized tree, generally up to 12 m tall (40 ft), but reportedly attaining twice that height in natural habitat; trunk and branches spiny when young; crown arched and spread out; leaves pinnate with 10-20 pairs of light green, oval leaflets, rounded at both ends, each about 6 cm long (2.3 in); flowers in dense, hanging raceme inflorescences dispersed among the leaves, change color from pale pink or rose to red, to pink again, with some white and darker pink markings; fruit long, dark-brown and cylindrical, up to 50 cm long (20 in) and 14-15 mm diameter (0.5-0.6 in).

Natural Habitat: Tropical regions at low elevation with moderate rainfall and well drained, deep soils; prefers full sun and is drought tolerant; propagated by seed; flowers April to August.

Origin and Distribution: Native of Indo-Malaysia; now widely cultivated throughout tropics and subtropics, including the Caribbean.

Uses: Primarily ornamental and shade; grown along streets and in parks and gardens.

References:
G.W. Lennox and S.A. Seddon. Flowers of the Caribbean. Macmillan, London 1978
H.F. Macmillan. Tropical Planting and Gardening. Macmillan, London 1956 C.D. Adams. Flowering Plants of Jamaica. University of the West Indies, Mona, Glasgow University Press 1972
Anibal Niembro Rocas, Cassia javanica. Tropical Tree Seed Manual, USDA, Washington, D.C. 2003
Jacques Fournet. Fleurs et Plantes des Antilles. Koon Wah Printing, Singapore 1988
Robert A. DeFilipps. Useful Plants of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1998