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habit in flower during spring (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
rough bark on main trunk of old tree (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
leaves (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of two-lobed leaf (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of flower with five stamens and stigma held above anthers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
darker-flowered form (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
immature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
mature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of seeds (Photo: Steve Hurst at USDA PLANTS Database)
seedling with old fruit in the background (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
flowers of the very similar purple bauhinia (Bauhinia purpurea), each with three stamens (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
Hong Kong orchid tree (Bauhinia x blakeana), a sterile hybrid between Bauhinia purpurea and Bauhinia variegata, is sometimes also cultivated in gardens. Note the five stamens held above the stigma (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
red bauhinia (Bauhinia galpinii) is also becoming a weed in eastern Queensland (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
dense thicket along a roadside in Toowong (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
habit in summer (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of two-lobed leaf (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
close-up of slightly hiary underside of young leaf (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
flower buds and and flowers from side-on, showing the elongated ovary topped with a style and stigma (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
the white flower of Bauhinia variegata 'Candida' (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
a darker flowered purple bauhinia (Bauhinia purpurea) plant (Photo: Sheldon Navie)
Scientific Name
Bauhinia variegata L.
Synonyms
Bauhinia variegata L. 'Candida'Bauhinia variegata L. var. candida VoigtBauhinia variegata L. var. variegata
Family
Caesalpiniaceae (Queensland, the ACT, Victoria, Tasmania, Western Australia and the Northern Territory)Fabaceae: sub-family Caesalpinioideae (New South Wales)Leguminosae (South Australia)
Common Names
bauhinia, butterfly ash, butterfly tree, camel's foot, camel's foot tree, mountain ebony, orchid tree, orchidtree, poor man's orchid, pink orchid tree, purple orchid tree, variegated orchid tree, variegated orchid-tree, white bauhinia, white camel's foot, white variegated orchid tree
Origin
Native to southern China, the Indian Sub-continent (i.e. Bhutan, India, Nepal and Pakistan) and south-eastern Asia (i.e. Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and north-western Thailand).
Naturalised Distribution
Naturalised in some parts of south-eastern and northern Queensland.
Also naturalised overseas in southern USA (i.e. Claifornia, Texas, Louisiana and Florida), the Caribbean, South Africa, and on some Pacific islands (e.g. New Caledonia and Western Samoa).
Notes
This species is regarded as an environmental weed, or potential environmental weed, on a local level in some parts of south-eastern (e.g. Redland Shire and Caboolture Shire) and northern (i.e. Thuringowa City) Queensland. It is widely cultivated in urban areas in northern and eastern Australia, particularly as a street tree, and readily escapes cultivation into waterways in Brisbane.
Note: a white-flowered form of this species, sometimes known as either Bauhinia variegata var. candida or Bauhinia variegata 'Candida', is present amongst cultivated and naturalised individuals in Australia.
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