Red Bird of Paradise, Dwarf Poinciana, Pride of Barbados, Peacock Flower, flambo

Red Bird of Paradise, Dwarf Poinciana, Pride of Barbados, Peacock Flower, flamboyan-de-jardin
Caesalpinia pulcherrima

Here is a close up of the bloom

I think this is Caesalpinia pulcherrima rather than C. mexicana

Oh really? I've been having a discussion with a couple of folks about these and I'm not sure how to tell the difference. Unless the nursery had it miss-marked (and that's always a possibility) then this is the Mexican variety. However, they're both relatively new to me, so I'm not sure how to tell them apart. Any help in that area would be appreciated.

The confusion comes from the fact that several of the species of Caesalpinia are called "Mexican Bird of Paradise." Another reason to discount common names!

Here is a discussion of three of the species:

http://cals.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/Caesalpinia_gilliesii.html
http://cals.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/Caesalpinia_pulcherrima.html
http://cals.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/Caesalpinia_mexicana.html

I've been able to photograph two of the above:

http://www.urs2.net/rsj/photo/nature/caesalpinia/

I agree Rich. Apparently the nurseries don't always keep up with things as maybe they should. When I got these they were simply marked "Mexican Bird of Paradise" with no other ID at all. I recently decided to add 2 more of these so I went to another nursery and asked for the same thing. I noticed they were marked "Pride of Barbados" with no other ID. The guy said they're the same thing and they had one in bloom that did look like what I have, so I got them.
Evidently they just call them what ever they know them as and don't bother to get the correct ID? Which leaves the folks like me (that don't know all the fancy names for all the plants we enjoy) at their mercy.

That's one of the reasons I decided to subscribe to this site. Folks here are all very friendly and helpful with this sort of thing.

So now what's the 'norn' around here since I've made a comment and added photos to the wrong PlantFile? Can they simply be moved to the right one (by admin) ? OR do they need to be deleted and reposted?

Thanks again for the info & assistance.
GD

GD_Rankin,
Beautiful photos, I am in the process of moving your comment and photos to the correct entry. You don't need to do anything. Thanks for your contributions to PF and welcome to DG.

Thank you Mystic for the kind words and assistance. Sorry for any trouble or extra work caused by all ok this, but as stated above I was told wrong by the local nursery folks and had no reason to second guess them. I'm glad Rich noticed the error and called our attention to it, I wouldn't want to mislead anyone else.

I'm fairly new to DG, but I've been really enjoying the site and the folks that frequent here. I hope to add many more comments and photos (hopefully in the correct location in the future lol) and learn more about what we all enjoy.

Thanks again,
GD

You're welcome, glad to help. I look forward to seeing more of your photos.