Handroanthus chrysotrichus (golden trumpet tree, "Koganenozen")

Japanese name: コガネノウゼン （黄金凌霄）
Scientific name: Handroanthus chrysotrichus

[Overview]
A deciduous or semi-evergreen tree 5–8 m tall, sometimes reaching 20 m.
It usually drops its leaves for a short period in spring.
The twigs bear brown stellate hairs.
The leaves are palmately compound and opposite, with usually 5 leaflets, though sometimes 3.
The leaflets are obovate to ovate-oblong, about 10 cm long, with an entire margin or very low serrations on the upper half.
The leaves of young trees have distinct serrations.
The leaves, together with the leaf stalks and leaflet stalks, bear brown stellate hairs.
It usually flowers during the leafless period.
8–10 flowers are borne in umbels at the branch tips; they are bright yellow and tubular, 6–7 cm long.
The corolla tip is divided into 5 rounded two-lipped lobes, often with wavy margins, and the throat has red veins.
The calyx is densely covered with brown stellate hairs.
The fruit is a slender capsule about 20–35 cm long, hanging down and densely covered with stellate hairs.
The seeds are winged.

[Cultivation]
Propagate from seed, by cuttings, or by layering.
In warm regions such as Kyushu and Okinawa, it can be planted in the open ground or as a street tree.
It prefers fertile soil in a sunny, well-drained site.
For potted plants, water thoroughly when the soil surface dries; for plants in the ground, rainfall is sufficient.
From after flowering until autumn, apply organic fertilizer or slow-release fertilizer around the plant.
Prune after flowering, limiting it to thinning out crowded branches.
Pests include aphids and spider mites.

[Notes]
It is the national flower of Brazil.

View this page in Japanese (日本語)