Mexican Bird of Paradise

Erythrostemon mexicanus

Mexican bird of paradise blooming at Academy Village

About the Plant

Please note: This plant is sometimes called yellow bird of paradise as well as Mexican bird of paradise and Mexican poinciana. Make sure to use the scientific name of this plant if you try to purchase it at a nursery.

Mexican bird of paradise (Mexican bird) is native to northeastern Mexico near the Rio Grande. It may be native to the very southern tip of of Texas, where it readily grows as an ornamental, but some experts question this (see here for discussion). In the Tucson area it grows as a shrub, evergreen in only the warmest winters, with spires of bright yellow, slightly fragrant flowers, beginning in March and continuing into the summer. Typically growing in our area to no more than 8 feet, it works well in a small garden.

Mexican bird looks best and flowers more reliably if irrigated in summer. It has a naturally open form. Fertilization will increase fullness as will removing spent flower stalks. The wood is brittle. Prune to remove winter-damaged stems and to remove seed pods if they become too heavy. Mexican bird may reseed in an irrigated landscape.

CAUTION: seeds and pods are poisonous.

Notes:

  • The previous scientific names for this plant were Caesalpinia mexicana and Poincianella mexicana. These names may still be commonly used in the nursery trade.
  • An unrelated plant - Strelitzia reginae - also goes by the name of "bird of paradise".  It is used extensively in southern California and is the official flower of the City of Los Angeles.
  • Two other plants grown in the Tucson area go by the name of "bird of paradise":
    • Red bird of paradise - Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Distinguished by the many short, flexible spines on the stems.
    • Yellow bird of paradise - Erythrostemon gilliesii. Distinguished from Mexican bird of paradise by having long, red, showy stamen.

Wildlife value: attracts hummingbirds. In its native range it is a larval plant for the curve-winged metalmark butterfly.

More Information

Weekly Plant on birds of paradise

Horticultural information from ASU  (as Poincianella mexicana)

Map of distribution in US (blue means plant is not native; light blue means the plant is found in those counties)

In books:

Trees and Shrubs for the Southwest by Mary Irish, page 141.

ID Characteristics

This plant is in the Fabaceae - the legume (pea and bean) family.
Though Mexican bird of paradise can grow to 15 feet, it is typically grows as a small, multi-stemmed shrub in the Tucson area, where it is knocked back by our cold winters. Expect it to grow to 6-8 feet tall and wide. The plant in the first photo above is just short of 5 feet high and has been in the ground for several years. The second photo shows the tree form of the plant, photo taken on University of Arizona campus.
The stems are gray-brown, with many raised, white dots (lenticels). Mexican bird of paradise has no spines or other sharp parts.
Mexican bird has alternate, bipinnate leaves. Each leaf has an odd number of sections (usually 5-9) and each section has just a few leaflets (6-10). The leaves are about 5 inches long and 3 inches wide, the sections about 1.5 inches long, and each leaflet 1/2 inch long by 1/4 inch wide. The leaves are evergreen in warm climates but in the Tucson area may fall in a cold winter.
The flowers are held in vertical clusters, 3-6 inches long, at the ends of branches. The lowest flowers open first.
The flowers are yellow, sometimes with a touch of red on the upper petal. The stamens have green filaments and are only slightly longer than the petals. There are no glands on the flowers or the flower stalk.
The fruit is a flat, green pod that matures to tan, about 2 x 0.5 inches, and is held on a 3/4 inch stalk. When mature, the fruit twists open and the seeds are released with an audible pop. Click on the photo to enlarge it: you will see the stalk of the flower cluster (cut it off if it is unappealing to you), and the curled remains of last year's seed pod.