jacaranda

Any plant of the genus Jacaranda (family Bignoniaceae), especially the two ornamental trees J. mimosifolia and J. cuspidifolia. Jacarandas are grown widely in warm parts of the world and in greenhouses for their showy blue or violet flowers and attractive, oppositely paired, compound leaves. The genus includes about 50 species native to Central and South America and the West Indies. The name is also applied to several tree species of the genera Machaerium and Dalbergia in the pea family (see legume), the sources of commercial rosewood.

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