Jacaranda Tree
Other common names: blue jacaranda, black poui, fern tree and exam tree
Jacaranda mimosifolia
Growing Zones: 9-11 - reasonably hardy down to 30oF.
Mature height: 25-50 ft.
Mature width: 15-30 ft.
Sunlight: Full sun Spacing: 15-20 ft.
Growth Rate: Fast
Habit: Fast growing, sub-tropical tree with purple spring blooms and rich fall color. Lots of incredible, long lasting purple blooms and delicate fernlike foliage. Has dome-shaped canopy. When the trumpet-shaped blooms finally fall, they form a lilac carpet beneath the tree. Rich, yellow fall colors. The tree can grow to a height of up to 66 ft. Its bark is thin and grey-brown in color, smooth when the tree is young though it eventually becomes finely scaly. The twigs are slender and slightly zigzag and are a light reddish-brown in color. The flowers are up to 2.0 in long, and are grouped in 12” panicles. They appear in spring and early summer and last for up to two months. They are followed by woody seedpods, about 2.0” in diameter and contain numerous flat, winged seeds. The Blue Jacaranda is cultivated even in areas where it rarely blooms for the sake of its large compound leaves that are up to 18” long and bi-pinnately compound, with leaflets little more than 0.39” long. There is a white form available from nurseries.
The unusually shaped, tough pods, which are 2 to 3” across, are often gathered, cleaned and used to decorate Christmas trees and dried arrangements.
Culture: Drought tolerant, adapts well to a variety of soil types. Native to south- central South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its beautiful and long-lasting blue flowers.
Notes: It is also known as jacaranda, blue jacaranda, black poui, or the fern tree. Older sources call it Jacaranda acutifolia, but it is usually classified as Jacaranda mimosifolia. In scientific usage, the name "jacaranda" refers to the genus Jacaranda, that has many other members, but in horticultural and everyday usage, it nearly always means the blue jacaranda.
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