Plant Family: Member of the Fabaceae family; other members include Colville's Glory (Colvillea racemosa), Glory Cedar (Gliricidia sepium), and Butterfly Pea (Clitoria falcata and C. ternatea)

Description: Shrub or small, spreading tree, up to 6 m tall (20 ft); leaves with 6 to 10 pairs of leaflets; at flower, leaves drop and flowers born along whip like branches; sepals joined in a 5-toothed tube; petals showy, butterfly-shaped, deep red to crimson; fruit a long, flattened pod.

Natural Habitat: Coastal dry, scrub forest; propagation by seed.

Origin and Distribution: Indigenous to Dominica; occurs in the wild in the drier areas of the west coast ; also grown in the Botanic Gardens, Georgetown, Guyana.

Uses: Grown as an ornamental and flowers in February to May

Indigenous Legends: Officially named the "National Tree of Dominica" in 1978. It is thought now to be rare in the wild

References:
R.A.DeFilipps. Useful Plants of the Commonwealth of Dominica, West Indies. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. 1998
Penelope N. Honychurch. Caribbean Wild Plants and Their Uses Macmillan, London, 1986