Schotia brachypetala flowers

Schotia brachypetala produces masses of red flowers in late winter to spring, making the weeping boer-bean a commanding and memorable presence in the lives of those having the privilege of spending some discretionary time near them.

Winter deciduous, during some years the still bare tree may grow a profusion of flower sprays before the leaves arrive. In other years leaves and flowers arrive simultaneously. Flowers grow on old wood, rarely at stem-tips. The clusters are 6 cm to 13 cm in diameter.

The dense, deep red or scarlet, branched heads or panicles have no petals or narrow ones, 1,5 cm long. It is the showy sepals and far exserted stamens joined at the base that steal the blooming show.

It is the abundance of nectar dripping from the flowers that brought the tree the weeping part of its common name: weeping boer-bean. The broad, flat, woody pods constituting the fruit did the rest (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Schmidt, et al, 2002; Pooley, 1993).