Jacaranda is native to tropical and subtropical regions of Central America and South America in places like Cuba, Jamaica and Brazil. It has been planted widely in Asia, South Africa and Australia.
The name is believed to be of Guarani origin, an indigenous language of South America meaning fragrant.
Jacaranda belongs to a genus in the family Bignoniaceae. The scientific name of the commonly planted jacaranda tree in Sydney is Jacaranda mimosifolia. The species are large trees ranging in size from 20 to 30 m tall. The leaves are bipinnate in all species. Leaves appear with or just after the flowers. The bark of the tree is rough with a lot of tiny rectangular cracks .
The leaves are deciduous, the foliage turning yellow before falling in late winter to early spring.
The flowers
During late spring around the mid October to early November in Sydney, around the time of the Higher School Certificate Examination, flowers appear in terminal clusters, in panicles of inflorescence, each flower with a five-lobed purple-blue or lavender-blue corolla.
The flower has a staminode that is much longer than the stamen. (In many flowers, a staminode is often rudimentary, sterile or abortive stamen, which does not produce pollen.) In jacaranda the staminode is long and conspicuous. It contains numerous glandular trichomes. Secretions from the glandular trichomes attract honey bees and other insects. It plays an important role in pollination.
The cross section of the ovary with ovules as seen under microscope
The fruit and seeds
The fruit is an oblong to oval flattened seed capsule containing numerous slender seeds.
Papery wing of the seeds help the seeds to flutter and spin as they are carried by the wind.
This species thrives in full sun and sandy soils, explaining their abundance in warmer climates.
Plantation of Jacaranda
Jacaranda can be seen lining avenues in some areas.
The city of Grafton on the north coast of New South Wales has a Jacaranda festival during the period of full bloom. A street parade, local public holiday and a series of events are held.
The tree canopies in some of Sydney’s north shore and around the harbour have a purple glow during late spring.
In the Main Quadrangle of the University of Sydney there was a solitary old jacaranda tree planted in 1928, and the saying goes: “If you haven’t started studying by the time the jacaranda starts blooming, it’s too late”! Unfortunately the tree collapsed in early 2016.
Sister Irene Haxton ran a maternity hospital in Caringbah during the 1950s and 1960s. She also grew and nurtured jacaranda seedlings.
Every one of the thousands of babies born at the hospital were sent home with a jacaranda seedling which was most probably planted in honour of the new family member. Many jacarandas on private properties in the local area might be attributed to Sister Haxton.
Painting of Jacaranda tree
Completed 13 years after Godfrey Rivers arrived in Australia, Under the jacaranda 1903 offers a view of early twentieth-century life in Brisbane, with the subject reflecting a popular genteel European tradition of ‘taking tea’ in an attractive outdoor setting.
The work depicts the artist and his wife, Selina, under the shade of a jacaranda tree in full bloom in the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens. Rivers captures the majestic form of the tree, emphasizing its distinctive colour with the contrasting green vegetation and the sparkling accent of the red umbrella. To the right of the foreground figures, the stone used as edging and in rockeries throughout the gardens can be seen. It is most likely composed of gneiss, a rock used as ballast on ships, and coral dredged from the nearby Brisbane River.
Drawings of Jacaranda trees
Illawarra flame tree and southern silky oak tree planted near jacaranda trees
Illawarra flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius) flowers more or less the same time as jacaranda. The red flowers contrast beautifully with the lavender-blue flowers of jacaranda. The two trees are planted close to each other.
Flowers are bright red in colour. The showy red-coloured structures are perianth ( fusion of sepals and petals). The perianth is tubular, 5-lobed. The flowers are arranged in panicles. The pod-like fruit (also known as follicles) are dark brown, wide and about 10 cm long.
Panicles of red bell-shaped flowers and 3 follicles (seed pods)
Both jacaranda and Illawarra flame trees are good subjects for painting.
Southern silky oak (Grevillea robusta) blooms in late spring around the same time as jacaranda.
Its flowers are golden-orange bottlebrush-like blooms, between 8–15 cm long on a 2–3 cm long stem and are used for honey production. The petals and sepals are fused together to form tepals. They are split into 4 lobes. The stigma and the style of the pistil (female part) are long, protruding out and very conspicuous. The style and stigma, with attached pollen, is called the ‘pollen presenter’. This is the conspicuous part of the flower.
The seeds mature in late winter to early spring, fruiting on dark brown leathery dehiscent follicles, about 2 cm long, with one or two flat, winged seeds.
Poem / Song related to the Jacaranda tree
Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia’s hot
Cold and frosty is what it’s not
When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near
From England came our Christmas fare
They even said what Santa should wear
But here down under for summers cool
Santa should dip in a swimming pool
Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia’s hot
Cold and frosty is what it’s not
When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near
Santa rides in a sleigh on snow
But down here where the gum trees grow
Santa should wear some water ski’s
And glide around Australia with ease
Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia’s hot
Cold and frosty is what it’s not
When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near
To ride around the bush where it’s dry
To cart all the presents piled so high
A red nosed reindeer would never do
Santa should jump on a kangaroo
Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia’s hot
Cold and frosty is what it’s not
When the bloom of the Jacaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near
CHRISTMAS WHERE THE GUM TREES GROW (Val Donlon / Lesley Sabogal) (poem)
Acknowledgements :
I would like to thank Ms Seanna McCune, Botanical Information Service, National Herbarium of New South Wales for her guidance and kind support.
I would like to thank Mrs Jane Theau of Workshop Arts Centre for her kind advice and Mr K W Yiu of University of Sydney for providing me with the photograph of the Jacaranda tree in University of Sydney.
Bibliography :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacaranda
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%93%9D%E8%8A%B1%E6%A5%B9 (藍花楹)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2712375/ (staminode)
http://blogs.usyd.edu.au/sydneylife/2006/10/the_perils_of_ignoring_a_bloom.html
http://www.theleader.com.au/story/2686244/colour-my-world-blooming-jacarandas-a-dazzling-delight/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brachychiton_acerifolius
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grevillea_robusta
http://lyricsplayground.com/alpha/songs/xmas/christmaswherethegumtreesgrow.shtml
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uvazmEwP-8o
Patrick Siu Chinese Calligraphy & Landscape Painting 蕭燿漢談書畫 