Pseudobombax Species, Shaving Brush Tree

Flowers are amazing but short lived. Watching the buds grow can be interesting too. Can get a large caudex at the base.

I purchased this tree at an auction and it took 6 years to identify it. I did not know it was a tree. I accidentally sprayed it with roun...Read Mored-up one spring. I saturated it from top to bottom. The solution was in the wrong bottle in case you think I wanted to kill him. We realized the mistake about 2 days later so my husband chopped it to the ground. It came back bigger and with many more branches, so we routinely cut it back each spring until I found out it was a tree. It loses all of it's leaves when the flower pods start to develop 2-3 times a year. This tree grew 6-10 feet per year depending on whether or not it was cut back. Growth in height slowed significantly when allowed to reach about 15 ft. and we no longer cut it back. It tolerates the rare light freezes and even rarer snow here. I probably deliberately watered it 10 times in 8 years so it is very drought tolerant. I haven't been able to find one in a nursery anywhere so I will try some mail orders. This is my favorite plant. It is very tropical looking, has beautiful big green leaves, provided reasonable height to my landscaping without over-shadowing and over-shading the other plants. Definitely a must have if your area will support it. I'd like to have 10 of them!

Short (up to 4 meters tall, often less), relatively slow grower, desciduous tree from the brazilian coastal areas.

It has...Read More palmate composite, fuzzy, papery leaves that drop as the floral buds develop, on autumn. The flowers open at night, and stay up for the next day, though not as beautiful as it is at night The petals are pure white, and curled bacwards. The stamens are abundant, and very long, white too. Bats and hawkmoths visit this flower at night after nectar, atracted by its size and smell.

This tree lives on poor, sandy soil, and needs regular watering (specially on summer, then the watering frequency may drop a bit to estimulate the flowering), full sun and high temperatures.
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Its short size and atractive flowers make this species a quite pleasing plant for any garden. In Rio de Janeiro, it´s been used successfully on public gardens.