Bauhinia ID's, or should I say ID's :-)

I'm fond of Bauhinias and have been collecting them for a while, particularly in the Victoria/Port Lavaca area. But there seems so little reliable information out there (that I can understand, anyhow!) and there are errors in our own PF, so although I believe most of what I've found are varieties/hybrids (natural or otherwise) of Bauhinia variegata, some of them just don't seem to fit there. Or perhaps they should have names of their own - I don't care what kind!

I'll try to post pictures logically so you can see what I'm talking about! First of all, the pods and leaves of all of these Bauhinias are almost identical as are the pods, down to the color of the seed. They are all trees and have about the same degree of frost tolerance (pretty good - no die back from the '04 Christmas freeze).

Here is what I know as Bauhinia variegata, common in Port Lavaca. It has almost ephemeral petals, no fragrance and glabrous pale green sepals. It blooms over a 2 week period (at most), the petals are very thin are are easily damaged by wind and it lacks fragrance. Flowers are about 2 - 3" across. I don't consider it desirable when compared to the others.

Good grief - there's no picture upload thingie - I'll have to respond to this....

Here's what I know as B variegata 'Candida':

Here's what I know as B variegata. See how flimsy the petals are?

Showing the sepals and petiole of what I know as B variegata:

Ok, now the flowers of the next 2 plants are about 4", the petals have a lot of substance and the blooming period is twice as long as the first two I posted. First, what's got to be (I guess) a form or cultivar of B variegata. The sepals are also glabrous, pale green but the flowers are slightly fragrant. Petals have a white base washed in violet. Yes, 5 stamens.

Now this is the one that is the kicker for me. Surely this has a cultivar or form name, don't you think? Any idea what that name might be? Know where I can get some good, reliable info on the web about Bauhinias (besides toptropicals.com and eflora)?

Four inch flowers of heavy substance are nicely fragrant, but check out the sepals. They are densely tomentose. In t his area, this is the first orchid tree to begin blooming and the last one to finish (except for the everbloomers). It is tough and vigorous - was knocked to the ground by Hurricane Claudette in July and reached it's former size to flower prolifically the following May. Port Lavaca is an old port and this specimen is near the port (which is why I think there are so many interesting tropicals there).

Thanks,
Rosemary

:bump: Doesn't anybody here have even a clue about these babies??

Thanks,
Rosemary

I'm not familiar with them.

I bought a B. tormentosa from Yucca Do this year. It is still young and has not bloomed yet. They have several on their web site; you might want to contact them on your ID ?'s.
www.yuccado.com

This is a vining one, B. yunnanensis. I got it from Yucca Do around 4 years ago. It only bloomed for the first time last year, then all the stems died, then it came back out over the feeble winter we had, and bloomed a lot this spring.