Hardiness zones
Sunset 12-16, 18-23
USDA 9 - 11

Landscape Use: Large seasonal accent, quick background though canopy is too sparse to make a screen, small multiple trunk tree, good for transition areas in oasis landscape design themes

Form & Character: Partially evergreen shrub, arborescent character with age and training, open, festive, warm, attracting

Growth Habit: Vigorous and sprawling to 10' or more with less than equal spread. Very brittle wood.

Foliage/texture: Leaves twice pinnately compound, leaflets to 3/4" and less, light green, stems without spines but with well defined lenticels, medium fine texture

Flowers & fruits: Lemon yellow flowers on terminal racemes, fruit are green pods in terminal clusters turning to brown pods in early summer, indehiscent. Pods are heavy and weigh down branches. When fruit are dry, seeds will "pop" out of their pods if splashed with water.

Seasonal color: Festive yellow color in early spring and late fall

Temperature: Heat loving, more cold hardy than C. pulcherrima.

Light: Full sun

Soil: Tolerant. Regular fertilization will increase foliar canopy density which is otherwise typically sparse to open.

Watering: Needs summer water

Pruning: Upright habit makes it logical to eventually elevate the canopy base so as to train into a small tree. Can also prune to ground in winter to control height. It's preferable to prune this plant (using slight heading cuts) in late May/early June so as to remove clusters of terminal brown fruit pods.

Propagation: Seed

Disease and pests: White flies

Additional comments: Good large, open canopy, accent plant that can attain small tree stature with age and elevation of canopy base. The wood is of this plant is very brittle and the flowers attract hummingbirds. In Phoenix, seed pods are visually detracting and visually most prevalent in late April and May.