Plant Family: Belongs to the Fabaceae family, which includes Bois Kwaib (Sabinea carinalis) and Glory Cedar (Gliricidia sepium)

Description: Erect, small to medium sized tree, up to 15 m tall (50 ft) with rough, grey bark; leaves trifoliate, leaflets leathery, elliptical and large, 15-20 cm long (6-8 in); bearing a brilliant profusion of beautiful crimson or orange-scarlet, velvet-textured flowers in dry months of April/May with fruits in July; flowers contain much nectar which attracts several species of birds, especially humming birds and sucriers (banana quits) in Dominica; pods pendulous, 7-10 cm long (3-4 in), yellow-brown when ripe.

Natural Habitat: Drier zones of tropical forests; propagation by seed, germination taking 1-3 weeks.

Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to drier forest areas of India and Malaysia, and distributed throughout S.E. Asia.

Uses: Yellow and orange dyes produced from flowers; bark furnishes fibre and resin, latter produced by scarifying the bark; resin used medicinally as an astringent and by women “in India to recover from weakness, .... and to reshape the body after delivery.” flowers popular with Indian women for hair adornment.

Indigenous Legends: Especially sacred to the Brahmins in India. When a Brahmin boy becomes a Sadhu (ascetic holy man), his head is shaved and he is given a Butea leaf to eat—the trifoliate formation representing the three major Hindu Gods - Vishnu in the middle, Brahma on the left and Shiva on the right.

References:
Anon. Official Guide to the Botanic Gardens, Dominica. Kew Gardens, London, 1924?
H.F. Macmillan. Tropical Planting and Gardening. Macmillan, London 1956
Butea frondosa – Flame of the Forest, Top Tropicals Botanical Center, Davie, FL 2005
Ashvini Gautam. Germination Guide to Tree Species. Dehra Dun, India 2005
Robert A.DeFilipps. Useful Plants of the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. Smithsonian Institution, Washington , D.C., 1998
Dan H. Nicolson. Flora of Dominica, Part 2: Dicotyledoneae. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1991