The Jerusalem Botanical Gardens

Common name: Climbing Chinese Orchid Tree, בוהיניית יונאן, בוהיניית יונאן

Family: Fabaceae (Pea)

Distribution: South China, Myanmar, Thailand

Habitat: Thickets on hills; 400-2000 m

Life form: Woody climber

Etymology: Bauhinia is named after Gaspard and Jean Bauhin - Swiss Physicians and Botanists father and son, who lived in the 16th century.

In memory: of Nizza Yaffe-Ovadia, a teacher of nature and life.

Description: A woody vine, up to 4 m tall. The plant is glabrous. Tendrils grow in pairs. The leaves have 2 suborbicular lobes, 2-4.5 × 1-2.5 cm. Inflorescence is a raceme, 8-18 cm long, with 10-20 flowers. The flower has 5 petals, pink with dark red veins, spatulate. The flower has one symmetry axis that crosses the upper petal and divides thetwo pairs of lateral ones. 3 long stamens grow down from the flower center. The fruit is an elongated curve legume pod, 8-15 × 1.5-2 cm.