Trees, unarmed. Branches spreading. Stems pubescent becoming glabrescent, hairs red-brown. Leaves alternate, even-bipinnate; stipules present, deciduous, 1 mm, triangular, entire, not pinnatifid or lacerate; petiolate; pinnae [3–](5–)7–22 pairs, opposite; leaflets [6–]16–60 per pinna, stipels absent, blade margins entire, surfaces glabrous or pubescent. Inflorescences 30–300-flowered, terminal or axillary, panicles [racemes]; bracts present, early-deciduous to persistent, linear to deltate; bracteoles absent. Flowers caesalpinioid, often fragrant; calyx not persistent, ovate, imbricate, pubescent, lobes 5, longer than tube; corolla yellow, petals subequal, to 25 mm diam., not clawed, pubescent near base; stamens 10, distinct, densely pubescent basally; anthers dorsifixed; ovary sessile or nearly so, densely pubescent; style slender, elongate; stigma peltate, broad. Fruits legumes, erect to deflexed, short-stipitate, strongly compressed, oblong-ellipsoid, 4–12[–15] cm, with winglike margins, indehiscent, glabrous or finely pubescent. Seeds 1–4[–8], strongly compressed, oblong-ellipsoid. x = 13.

Distribution

Introduced; Florida, West Indies, South America, se Asia, s Africa, Australia.

Discussion

Species 5–7 (2 in the flora).

Peltophorum is closely related to the caesalpinioid genera Delonix and Parkinsonia (A. Bruneau et al. 2008). Species of Peltophorum are used as ornaments and for lumber, fuel, medicine, or fodder (G. P. Lewis 2005).

Peltophorum dubium and P. pterocarpum are widely cultivated for their attractive flowers, and have escaped and become naturalized in parts of peninsular Florida.

Baryxylum Loureiro, as applied to Peltophorum, is a rejected name.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Peltophorum dubium, Peltophorum pterocarpum

Key

1	Leaflet blades narrowly oblong, (4–)7–15 × (1.5–)2–4.5 mm, lengths usually 3–4 times widths, apices acute or apiculate; larger inflorescence rachises little, if at all, lenticellate.	Peltophorum dubium
1	Leaflet blades oblong, (7–)10–21 × (3–)5–10 mm, lengths usually 1.5–3 times widths, apices usually retuse, sometimes rounded to blunt, not apiculate; larger inflorescence rachises densely lenticellate.	Peltophorum pterocarpum