Genus: Trees
Adansonia
Adansonia
Genus of monumental trees known as baobabs, belonging to the Malvaceae family. Comprises 9 species: one in continental Africa, one in Australia, and seven endemic to Madagascar. They are famous for their enormous, barrel-shaped trunks capable of storing thousands of liters of water, fire-resistant bark, multi-century longevity, and their ecological role as providers of food and shelter for numerous wildlife species.
Araucaria
Araucaria
Genus of conifers in the family Araucariaceae native to the Southern Hemisphere, mainly South America, Australia, New Caledonia, and New Guinea. They are majestic, long-lived trees, relicts of the flora of the supercontinent Gondwana: their ancestors coexisted with dinosaurs in the Jurassic. They include the monkey puzzle or pehuén (A. araucana), the emblematic tree of Araucanía; the Australian bunya pine (A. bidwillii) with its gigantic cones; and the Norfolk Island pine (A. heterophylla), one of the most widely cultivated tropical ornamental trees in the world.
Bombax
Bombax
Genus of large tropical trees in the family Malvaceae (subfamily Bombacoideae), native to southern and southeastern Asia and northern Australia. Their spectacular scarlet-red flowers, which emerge before the leaves on bare branches, make them one of the most impressive flowering trees in the world. The trunk, often armed with conical prickles, harbours spongy water-storing tissue. The seeds are surrounded by a silky fibre (kapok).
Boswellia
Boswellia
Genus of trees and shrubs in the family Burseraceae, native to the arid regions of eastern Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and India. They are the producers of frankincense, one of the most valued resins in human history. Their succulent trunks store water and nutrients. Several species are threatened by overexploitation and climate change.
Brachychiton
Brachychiton
Genus of about 30 trees and shrubs native to Australia and New Guinea, commonly known as "bottle trees" or "kurrajong". Many species develop swollen trunks or bases that store water and carbohydrate reserves, an adaptation to the dry Mediterranean climate and Australian savannas. Their colorful bell-shaped flowers make them highly prized ornamental trees in warm regions worldwide.
Bursera
Bursera
Genus of trees and shrubs in the family Burseraceae, with about 100 species distributed mainly in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. They are the so-called "copales" or "cuajiotes" in Mexico, highly valued in caudiciform collections for their papery or exfoliating bark trunks, often in striking colors (green, red, yellow). They produce aromatic resins used in pre-Hispanic religious ceremonies and as incense. They are extremely drought-resistant, deciduous or semi-deciduous, and very popular in bonsai and succulent and caudiciform plant collections.
Carica
Carica
Genus of trees and shrubs in the family Caricaceae, native to tropical and subtropical America. Includes wild relatives of papaya (C. papaya), several of which inhabit the Andes and Amazonia. Characterised by a succulent trunk, large palmate leaves and fleshy fruits.
Ceiba
Ceiba
Chorisia
Chorisia
Genus of large trees belonging to the family Malvaceae (subfamily Bombacoideae). Species are characterised by a bottle-shaped trunk covered with conical spines that stores water to survive seasonal droughts. They produce showy 5-petalled flowers and capsules filled with silky fibre. Many current authors merge this genus into Ceiba.
Commiphora
Commiphora
Couroupita
Couroupita
Monotípic or few-species genus in the family Lecythidaceae, native to the tropical forests of northern South America and the Caribbean. It includes the famous Couroupita guianensis, known as the "cannonball tree" for its enormous spherical woody fruits hanging directly from the trunk. The genus is celebrated for extreme cauliflory: clusters of fragrant, showy flowers emerge directly from the main stem. Cultivated in tropical botanical gardens worldwide as a monumental tree of great ornamental and symbolic value.
Cussonia
Cussonia
Genus of trees and shrubs in the family Araliaceae distributed mainly in sub-Saharan Africa and western Indian Ocean islands. African cussonia or "cabbage trees" are distinguished by their large palmate compound leaves, architectural form with a dense crown, and — in many species — a swollen, caudiciform trunk base that stores water and nutrients. Some species such as C. paniculata inhabit high altitudes and tolerate light frost. They are valued in ornamental gardening for their exotic appearance and ability to grow in difficult soils.
Delonix
Delonix
Genus of tropical trees in the family Fabaceae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae) distributed mainly in Madagascar and East Africa. The genus includes some of the most spectacular flowers in the plant world: the type species, D. regia (flamboyant or flame tree), is one of the most impressively flowering trees in the world. The remaining species are endemic to Madagascar with restricted distributions, several critically endangered due to Malagasy deforestation. All share a characteristic umbrella-shaped canopy architecture and showy-petalled flowers.
Elaphrium
Elaphrium
Elaphrium is an older genus of deciduous and caudiciform trees in the family Burseraceae, native to Mexico and Central America. Commonly known as copals or torotes, they are characterized by their swollen resinous trunk, peeling bark, and aromatic resins used since pre-Hispanic times in rituals, medicine, and incense. Most species are now placed under Bursera, though the name Elaphrium retains historical and taxonomic value.
Erythrina
Erythrina
Genus of tropical trees and shrubs known as coral trees, featuring spectacular red flowers, swollen pachycaul trunks, and toxic seeds rich in erythrine alkaloids.
Eucalyptus
Eucalyptus
Enormous genus of the family Myrtaceae with more than 700 species, the botanical symbol of Australia and one of the most important arboreal genera in the world for its forestry, medicinal, and ornamental uses. Eucalypts are fast-growing trees adapted to a very wide range of climatic conditions: from the tropical zones of northern Australia to the alpine forests of the southeast. They dominate the Australian landscape and have been massively introduced into all regions of the world, mainly for their timber, essential oil (cineole), and phytoremediation capacity. Some species possess some of the most spectacular flowers in the plant world — pompom-like, petalless flowers whose beauty lies in their stamens.
Firmiana
Firmiana
Genus of deciduous trees in the family Malvaceae (subfamily Sterculioideae) distributed mainly in East and tropical Asia (China, Japan, India, Indochina) with some species in tropical Africa. The genus is named after Karl Josef von Firmian, governor of the Duchy of Milan in the 18th century and patron of the sciences. The best-known species is F. simplex (Chinese parasol tree), famous for its large, lobed leaves, very ornamental follicle fruits (the follicles open and expose seeds at the rim), and light wood. Some tropical species produce very showy orange to vivid red flowers.
Handroanthus
Handroanthus
Genus of tropical trees in the family Bignoniaceae, segregated from the former genus Tabebuia, distributed mainly in Central and South America. It comprises the Brazilian and South American "ipês" or "trumpet trees", famous for their massive and spectacular flowering: in the dry season, before the leaves emerge, the trees are completely covered in tubular yellow, pink, lilac, or white flowers in large panicles. The yellow ipê (H. chrysotrichus) is the national tree of Brazil. Ipê wood is one of the hardest and most durable in the world.
Hibiscus
Hibiscus
Cosmopolitan genus of the Malvaceae family with around 300 species of tropical and subtropical herbs, shrubs and trees. Some species have tuberous roots or succulent stems adapted to seasonal drought. Flowers are large, showy, with free petals and a characteristic staminal column. Widely cultivated as ornamental, medicinal and food plant worldwide.
Jacaratia
Jacaratia
Caudiciform succulent trees of the family Caricaceae native to tropical America; spiny succulent trunk that stores water; deciduous palmate leaves; related to papaya.
Lecythis
Lecythis
Genus of tropical trees in the family Lecythidaceae native to Amazonia and northern South America. The lecythis or "sapucaias" are famous for their large urn- or vase-shaped woody fruits with a lid (the operculum), which when falling releases oily, nutritious seeds — known as "paradise nuts" or "crown nuts" — of exquisite flavour and exceptional nutritional value. The genus is one of many in the family Lecythidaceae, which also includes the Brazilian cannonball tree (Couroupita guianensis). Their flowers are large and showy.
Lysiphyllum
Lysiphyllum
Genus of trees and shrubs in the family Fabaceae (subfamily Cercidoideae) distributed in Australia (mainly the tropical and subtropical north) and Southeast Asia. They are the Australian equivalents of Asian Bauhinia, to which they were previously assigned. They are characterised by their distinctive bilobed leaves (butterfly- or horseshoe-shaped) and their showy white or pink flowers. L. cunninghamii (the mountain bauhinia) is an important Australian species for the ecosystem of northern Australia.
Moringa
Moringa
Genus of the family Moringaceae with tropical tree species, some with swollen succulent trunks. The best-known species is M. oleifera, the miracle tree. M. hildebrandtii is endemic to Madagascar.
Nothofagus
Nothofagus
Genus of southern beeches (family Nothofagaceae) distributed in the Southern Hemisphere: South America (Chile and Argentina, mainly Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego), Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and subantarctic islands. They are the dominant trees of the temperate and subantarctic forests of the Southern Hemisphere, the ecological equivalents of Northern Hemisphere Fagus (beeches). The Patagonian nothofagus — ñirre (N. antarctica), lenga (N. pumilio), coihue (N. dombeyi), roble pellín (N. obliqua), rauli (N. alpina) — are the most important forestry species of the southernmost South America and form the spectacular Patagonian forests that turn red and yellow in autumn. Relicts of the Gondwanan flora.
Pachira
Pachira
Petalostigma
Petalostigma
Genus of Australian trees and shrubs in the family Picrodendraceae, with 3–4 species endemic to Australia (mainly Queensland and Northern Territory). They are trees of tropical dry forest, savanna and coastal areas. The best-known species are P. pubescens and P. quadriloculare, which produce resinous fruits of vivid colour (orange-red) used in Aboriginal traditional medicine. The timber is hard and durable. The genus name refers to the petaliform (petal-shaped) stigma of the female flowers.
Phytolacca
Phytolacca
Genus of trees and shrubs with spongy succulent trunks in the family Phytolaccaceae, with iconic representatives in the Río de la Plata basin such as the Ombú (P. dioica), a living symbol of the Argentine Pampas.
Prosopis
Prosopis
Genus of spiny shrubs and trees in the family Fabaceae (subfamily Caesalpinioideae), commonly known as mesquites, algarrobos and algorrobes. It comprises around 44 species distributed mainly in arid and semi-arid zones of the Americas (especially North America, Mexico and South America), with some species in Africa and Asia. They are extremely drought-adapted plants with deep root systems (up to 50 m in some species), making them important nitrogen fixers and revegetators of arid zones. The pod fruits (sweet mesocarp in several species) are food for wildlife and humans. Some species have become problematic invasives in Africa and Australia.
Pseudobombax
Pseudobombax
Genus of tropical and subtropical caudiciform trees in family Malvaceae (tribe Bombacoideae), distributed from Mexico and Central America to northern Argentina, with greatest diversity in the Brazilian Cerrado. The name Pseudobombax ("false Bombax") reflects its morphological similarity to the genus Bombax from which it was separated. They are trees with frequently swollen or conical trunks, deciduous, whose spectacular flowering occurs directly on the bare branches before the leaves emerge. The large flowers, with numerous elongated stamens forming a brush of white, pink or red colour, are pollinated mainly by bats and moths. The woody caudex in bonsai forms and the spectacle of their flowering make them highly coveted in caudiciform collections. The genus comprises approximately 20–30 species.
Senna
Senna
Genus of tropical and subtropical legumes, some adapted to arid and semiarid conditions.
Sesbania
Sesbania
Genus of herbs, shrubs and trees in the family Fabaceae (subfamily Faboideae), with around 60–70 species distributed in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. They are fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing plants that colonise riverbanks, wetlands and disturbed areas. Several species are of great agronomic importance as green manures and soil improvers (especially S. sesban and S. bispinosa). S. formosa is the most striking arborescent species, native to Australia, with large white flowers.
Sterculia
Sterculia
Genus of tropical and subtropical trees in the family Malvaceae (subfamily Sterculioideae), with around 150–200 species distributed across Africa, Asia, Australia and the Pacific. Many species develop prominent, striking trunks; some show notable adaptations to arid zones or island habitats. Flowers are small but produced in large panicles; fruits are showy woody follicles that open to reveal colourful seeds. The genus is named after Sterculus, the Roman god of manure, alluding to the fetid smell of the flowers of some species.
Xanthorrhoea
Xanthorrhoea
Genus of arborescent monocotyledonous plants from Australia, known as grass trees or blackboys. They are extraordinarily long-lived plants — they can live over 600 years — that develop a very slowly growing woody trunk crowned by a dense rosette of stiff linear leaves resembling a sheaf of grass. The family Xanthorrhoeaceae is restricted to Australia, where around 30 species inhabit savannas, scrublands and open forests. They produce very conspicuous vertical cylindrical flower spikes. The base of the trunk accumulates yellow resin ("xanthorrhoea" = "yellow flow" in Greek) used industrially and as glue by Australian Aboriginal people.