Mexican Bird of Paradise

Caesalpinia pulcherrima

Commonly grown as an ornamental, these plants are natives a little south of us.

The seeds are edible raw when young and tender.
Remove the seed coat first. Gather them in August or September. They are also edible cooked when green. Various parts of the plant are medicinal. A wash made by boiling the roots is used for rattlesnake bites and insect stings. The inflorescences contain red coloring material, gallic acid, soft resin, latex, tannin, benzoic acid, and salts. They are expectorant. Butterflies and hummingbirds like the flowers. The fruit yields tannin. The plant can be pruned and maintained as a dwarf.