Okay, onward -- last spring, my Aunt sent me a bunch of images of plants, taken on her annual Florida winter vacation. This morning, I received another dispatch from warmer climes with this photo attached:
As always, I had a quiet little thrill to immediately recognize it (since tropicals are relatively new additions to my plant palette) as Senna surattensis. Of course, I didn't immediately remember that name, I recognized the tree by its common name, scrambled egg tree. I just kinda love the Dr. Seussian quality of that name, though of course the eggs in question are not green. It can also be referred to as bush senna, golden senna and glaucous cassia. (Previously, the plant belonged to the Cassia genus, though has since been re-named Senna).
Above, a grove of S. surattensis in Lanai. As you can probably guess, this plant is in the Fabaceae/Leguminosae families -- the pinnately compound foliage and presence of long, flat pea pods are clues. The tree is a tough species and does well as small street trees or works in smaller residential spots. It blooms relatively easily though when it is not in bloom the plant can become a bit messy due to fallen flowers and pods.
Love the bark!
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