Miami's Golden Trees

Every year, I look forward to take photos of these wonderful yellow flowering trees that line many of the streets of Miami. This year, the flowers come late, starting only this week; peaking at this time. The flowers last only a few days, but because there are so many trees around, the displays last a good 10 days to two weeks. Its common name is Golden Tree, Golden Trumpet, Golden Goddess... In Trinidad/Tobago, it is called Yellow Poui.

This is the national tree of Venezuela and its origin is from Central and South America. Its scientific name is "Tabebuia Chrysantha" where Chrysantha is Greek for "Golden Flowers."

It is known under the following names in other coutries: Amapa (Mexico), Amapa amarilla (Mexico), Amapa prieta (Mexico), Apamate, Araguaney (Venezuela), Araguaney puy (Venezuela), Cañaguate (Colombia), Chicalá (Colombia), Contoz (Costa Rica), Cortes, Cortés (Costa Rica, Honduras), Cortez (El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua), Cortez coyote (El Salvador), Cortez negro (El Salvador), Cortez prieto (El Salvador), Corteza (Costa Rica), Corteza amarilla (Costa Rica), Flora amarilla (Venezuela), Guayacan (Costa Rica), Guayacán (Costa Rica, Mexico, Venezuela), Guayacán amarillo, Guayacán con flor amarillo (Colombia), Guayacán pechiche (Ecuador), Guayacán polvillo (Colombia), Hahauche (Guatemala), Lombricillo (Mexico), Lotcui (Mexico), Madera negra (Ecuador), Masicaran (Guatemala), matilisguate (Guatemala), Polvilli (Colombia), Polvillo (Colombia), Quebracho (Guatemala), Roble (Mexico), Tajibo amarillo (Bolivia), Verdecillo (Mexico), Verdicello (Mexico).

This photo is not from the best tree around. This small tree sits on a busy segment of Miami's US-1 and you can see the elevated metro rail paralleling the highway. These trees are vulnerable to strong winds, and many were destroyed during the hurricanes of the past two years. You may be able to see that this tree was severely battered, but survived past hurricanes. These yellow flowers are precursors to the magnificent red (and some yellow) royal poincianas that will come next.