A beautiful, fast growing but relatively short lived medium-sized flowering tree, found in cloud forest areas usually as a pioneer species in secondary or disturbed vegetation between 2000 and 3200 m in Andes from Colombia to Peru and in Costa Rica. It has dark green, broad foliage and upright, cand..
A large shrub or small tree to 10 m tall with soft branches, large leaves and dark reddish purple flowers followed by very strange, 5-winged, goblet-shaped seed pods. The leaves are covered in irritating hairs. Abroma augusta is widespread in tropical Asia and into the western Pacific, where it is u..
A large, fast growing, somewhat weedy shrub to 3 m tall with soft, large leaves and masses of yellow flowers. Abutilon grandiflorum is widespread in tropical Africa. It is easy to grow in tropical and warm temperate climates. In regions with colder winters it can be grown as an annual...
A medium to large tree to 30 m tall, native to northern Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea with attractive, sickle-shaped phyllodes (leaves that are actually not leaves but widened leaf stalks) and yellow, bottle-brush-like flowers in great profusion. Besides being grown as a robust ornament..
A small to moderately-sized, evergreen, tropical tree to about 25 m tall with long phyllodes and spikes of cream white, scented flowers. Acacia cincinnata is native to Australia and islands of the South West Pacific, where it grows in open forests. It makes a nice ornamental and is also planted for ..
A well known and popular, very fast growing ornamental tree to 15 m tall, native to eastern Australia with dark green, bipinnate, feathery foliage and wonderfully scented, golden yellow flowers in great profusion in early spring. Seeds should be scarified or briefly immersed in boiling water before ..
A large, very fast growing tree to 35 m (115 ft.) tall, native from Queensland, Australia to New Guinea and the Moluccas. It is popular as a plantation tree due to its speed and ease of growth, drought tolerance, nitrogen-fixing qualities and its good quality wood, which is used for pulp and charcoa..
A medium to large, dry deciduous tree with broad pinnate foliage, white, sweetly scented flowers and armed with hooked thorns. It is native to savanna and woodland in southeastern and southern Africa. Seeds should briefly be immersed in boiling water before sowing...
This stunningly beautiful palm from New Guinea and the Solomon Islands has a slender, tall, solitary trunk, a smooth, long crownshaft, and a dense head of elegantly arching, finely pinnate, keeled leaves. It is a perfect ornamental for the tropics. The large seeds are easy to germinate and growth is..
A medium-sized to fairly large but relatively short-lived tree that rarely grows taller than 30 m, with broadly pinnate leaves to 1 m long and small, white flowers. Ailanthus altissima is very fast growing and easily established, but can also become a nuisance as it spreads by root suckers when tryi..
A large, dry-deciduous tree to about 25 m tall, native to dry forests in India and Sri Lanka, with a spreading crown of pinnate leaves and small, white flowers followed by winged, reddish fruits. It is a popular and very undemanding shade tree for the tropics but also used for fodder, wood and in tr..
A stunning, small to large, dry deciduous tree with an open, spreading crown of finely pinnate leaves, clusters of whitish flowers and attractive, smooth pale bark. Albizia niopoides is widespread in dryish forests from southern Mexico throughout tropical Central and South America to Argentina at lo..
A large, dry deciduous tree to about 30 m tall with an open, light crown of bipinnate leaves and white, powderpuff-like flowers, followed by red or reddish brown seed pods. It is widely distributed from India to southern China, the Solomon Islands and Australia and found in a wide variety of habitat..
A small to medium-sized, evergreen tree to 15 m tall with a spreading crown of large leaves. Apeiba tibourbou is widespread in Central and South America, where it is found in lowland and montane forests to 1200 m. It is a pioneer species most frequently seen in secondary growth and very fast growing..
A small to medium-sized, deciduous tree with white bark, weeping branches and small, light green leaves. Betula pendula is widely distributed around the Arctic in North America, Europe and Asia and reaches the mountains of Morocco and Iran in the south. It is fast growing, extremely cold hardy and m..
A large, dry deciduous, fast growing tree that can reach 50 m tall, native to seasonally dry forests throughout tropical and warm temperate Asia to Australia and the South Pacific from sea level to 1800 m. Bischofia javanica is popular in Asia for its reddish brown, fairly heavy wood, edible seeds a..
A large, evergreen shrub or small to medium-sized tree to 15 m tall with stringy bark, narrow leaves with pale undersides and scented, white flowers. Buddleja saligna is native to South Africa and Zimbabwe, where it is widely distributed in dryish scrub and woodlands from sea level to 2000 m. It mak..
A fast growing, large shrub or small tree rarely more than 10 m tall with very finely bipinnate leaves and upright inflorescences with showy, powderpuff-like, red flowers. Calliandra houstoniana is originally native to humid forests in Mexico and Central America but has naturalized elsewhere. It is ..
A very slender and elegant palm from northern Australia with gracefully recurving, keeled leaves. It is suitable for mild subtropical and tropical climates and, if heavily fertilized and watered, will develop with breathtaking speed...
A giant Caryota from a small stretch of montane rainforest on the Malay Peninsula in southernmost Thailand between 1100 and 1200 m (3600 and 3900 ft.), where only 50 or so large plants persist. While similar to C. obtusa, with a huge crown of fern-like, doubly pinnate leaves, C. kiriwongensis differ..
Though known in cultivation for a while now (especially in California where it is grown under the name Caryota urens or "Mountain Form"), this fabulous, hardy species still is rarely seen around. It is a fairly large, vigorous, and extremely fast growing tree (up to 2 m (6.5 ft.) per year) with a de..
A very large species from rainforests on the island of Borneo with a thick trunk and an enormous, spreading crown of flat, fernlike leaves, similar to C. obtusa from India and Thailand...
Caryota obtusa is by far the most massive of the Fishtail Palms. It is found scattered over a vast area between Northeast India, southwestern China and northern Thailand, always growing in the mountains. The form from Thailand, which has previously been described as C. gigas, was introduced into cul..
Caryota obtusa (or Caryota gigas, as it is still called by some) is the King Kong of the Fishtail Palms. It is found scattered over a vast area between Northeast India, southwestern China and northern Thailand (which is where this form comes from), always growing in the mountains. Its awesome size (..
This beautiful, large, evergreen tree features simple, leathery leaves and small, acorn-like fruits with an edible seed. Native to rainforests from southern China to New Guinea from low elevations to 2500 m, Castanopsis acuminatissima is an important canopy tree with a multitude of uses and popular ..
This beautiful and most unusual dwarf cycad is found on poor soils in the undergrowth of dry Eucalyptus woodland above 1400 m (4600 ft.) in northeastern New South Wales, Australia, where it even gets ...
An evergreen perennial in the iris family from South Africa's Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. It produces a tuft of grass-like leaves from an underground corm. The long, delicate inflorescences hold a...