Whence
Jacaranda tree
Plant

Where does Jacaranda tree come from?

The jacaranda comes from south-central South America, from southern Bolivia, Paraguay and northern Argentina to the edges of Brazil and Uruguay. Its violet blossoms now colour city streets on several continents, while in the wild the species is listed as Vulnerable.

Wild in the Chaco and the Andes

Jacaranda mimosifolia grows wild in the Dry Chaco and its flooded savannas, and in the Southern Andean Yungas, the forests of the eastern Andean foothills and valleys, up to 2,600 metres. It reaches up to 20 metres, with fern-like leaves up to 45 cm long, and its flowers last up to two months. In its native range it is threatened by uncontrolled logging and the clearing of land for farming, and the IUCN Red List assesses it as Vulnerable.

Planted wherever frost is rare

Gardeners have taken the tree to almost every frost-free part of the world. Baron von Ludwig brought it to South Africa around 1829, when a botanical garden was being started in Cape Town. A jacaranda first bloomed in Sydney in about 1850, and Brisbane had its first in 1864. The horticulturist Kate Sessions is credited with popularising it in San Diego, and today it grows in cities from Lisbon and Athens to Nairobi and Mexico City.

Why people say South Africa

Pretoria is nicknamed the Jacaranda City. Its first two trees were seedlings that a travelling nurseryman sold to Japie Celliers in 1888. In 1906 the seedsman James Clark gave 200 trees for the town's anniversary, and the town engineer Frank Jameson planted many more from 1909. Estimates run from about 37,000 street trees to some 65,000 with the outlying areas. Australia has its jacaranda towns too, but in parts of South Africa and Queensland the tree is now regarded as invasive.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org ↗ · theheritageportal.co.za ↗ · etymonline.com ↗

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