"Samanea saman is native to open woodland areas and prairies from Central America to Brazil. It has been introduced and has naturalized in a number of tropical areas around the world. This is an ornamental tropical shade tree that grows to 50-80' tall with a broad, flattened, umbrella-like crown spreading to 100' in diameter. Mature trees provide excellent shade.
Compound, bipinnate leaves (to 12-15" long) with leaflets to 1.5" long. Leaves fold up on cloudy or rainy days and at night. When it rains, water can more easily reach the grass under the tree because of the folded leaves, often resulting in greener grass under the tree, hence the common name of rain tree. Tiny flowers appear in mass (usually in spring) in rounded, fluffy, pompom-like flower heads (each to 1 1/2 across). Protruding stamens (white below but crimson-pink above) give the flower head an overall pink appearance from a distance. Flowers are attractive to bees. One (infrequently two) flowers per head are followed by a flattened, bean-like seed pod (each to 8" long with 15-20 seeds per pod). Pulp inside the pod is sticky, sweet and edible for humans. Seeds are imbedded in the pulp. Pods are often used as stock feed. Wood is used for making furniture and carved bowls.
Impressive tropical shade tree along roads, parks and pastures. Generally considered to be an attractive landscape tree, but needs a large space."
About Jonsteen's Seedlings
All of our trees are seed-grown at our nursery on California's Redwood Coast, which is inspected monthly and licensed by the California Department of Agriculture. Trees can provide a natural barrier against high winds, temperatures, noise pollution and soil erosion, all while benefiting local air quality, wildlife and property values — a Jonsteen seedling will only grow in value and beauty
About Jonsteen's 100% Guarantee
All of our trees are guaranteed to arrive healthy and in good condition. If your tree perishes despite your honest efforts, we will be happy to replace it with a small-sized seedling for just the cost of shipping/handling. You can learn more about our guarantee and tree replacement policy here.
Seedling Size Chart: Medium
Due to the dynamic nature of actively growing trees, as well as the tremendous variation between species’ growth rates, we rely on the cubic volume of a seedling’s root mass to determine its “size” (Small / Medium / Large / XL). Within each size there is minor variance — the dimensions provided here represent the category minimum. If exact measurements are essential, please contact us about current stock.
