The Bauhinia purpurea is an ornamental tree that is grown for its beautiful orchid like flowers and butterfly shaped leaves. The flowers are fragrant.
Although it is commonly called the Hong Kong Orchid Tree, this is not the flower depicted in the Hong Kong flag. The emblem flower of Hong Kong is the Bauhinia blakeana, which is a natural hybrid of B. purpurea and B. variegata.
The genus 'Bauhinia' is named in honour of the Bauhin brothers who were Swiss-French botanists.
“Bauhinia purpurea”, a copyrighted post, was written for My Nice Garden blog by Autumn Belle @ http://www.mynicegarden.com/ on June 3rd 2011.
