Cassia FISTULA

Cassia FISTULA - Golden shower tree, Cassia fistula, Golden shower, Ratchaphruek.

Can be grown in bonsai style!

Cassia is a genus of trees, shrubs, subshrubs, and herbs in the family Fabaceae, comprising about 30 species distributed throughout the tropical zone worldwide, mainly in the deserts of Africa and Asia.

Plants of the genus have spirally arranged leaves, alternate, even-pinnate, consisting of four to five pairs of lanceolate, pointed leaflets. It blooms from late June to autumn. Yellow flowers gathered in terminal axillary panicles have 5 sepals and broad, unequal petals. There are ten stamens of varying lengths. The ovary is on a stalk, the style is filiform and curved.

The fruit is a broad elongated pod, cylindrical or nearly compressed, 30-60 cm (12-24 in) in length, indehiscent. The endocarp forms a complete partition between each pair of consecutive seeds. The seeds are numerous, arranged in one or two rows.

Cassia fistula is a very attractive evergreen tree with opposite pinnately compound leaves consisting of 8 pairs of rather large (up to 5-8 cm / 2-3 in) glossy oval leaflets. Flowering is very showy and profuse with fragrant yellow flowers up to 6 cm (2.4 in) in diameter, gathered in large pendulous inflorescences up to 40 cm (16 in) in length. Elegant pinnate foliage makes the plant very attractive even when not in bloom.

The seeds are scarified beforehand (without breaching the outer layer, germination will be minimal); for this, the outer coat is carefully filed or scratched with a hard tool without damaging the seed, small seeds are scalded with hot (~80 °C / 176 °F) water, after which they are soaked for 12 hours in cold water with the addition of stimulants (SUPERthrive, HB-101, Aminozol, Epin, or Zircon), then sown in a light, air-permeable mixture to a depth of 0.7-1 cm (0.3-0.4 in), moistened from a spray bottle, placed in a mini-greenhouse or covered with film, and germinated in light, but not in direct sun at a temperature of 22-30 °C (72-86 °F). Seedlings require ventilation. It is necessary to avoid waterlogging and drying out of the crops.

The first seedlings appear several weeks after planting. At the stage of 2-4 pairs of true leaves, seedlings are pricked out into individual pots or into open ground.

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Cassia is very unpretentious in cultivation. Optimal conditions in open ground culture for cassias are a hot summer climate without frost in winter, good lighting, a sunny location, and moderate watering. When keeping plants indoors, it is important to choose the right lighting conditions.

It prefers a sunny exposure with at least six hours of sunlight per day, without overdoing direct sunlight and with shading on very hot summer days. In the winter period without supplemental lighting, it may drop some of its leaves.

When kept in rooms with a temperature of around 20 °C (68 °F), many species become evergreen. During dormancy, the minimum temperature is 10 °C (50 °F). If the plant is provided with a dormant period, flowering will be more profuse.

Mature plants are extremely drought-resistant; however, during the active growth period, generous watering is required as the top layer of soil dries out. In winter, the frequency of watering depends on the room temperature. When kept at room temperature in autumn, watering is gradually restricted. Under dormancy conditions, cassia is watered very moderately, almost sparsely.

The plant is undemanding regarding soil composition, but mixtures with sand are preferable. In early spring, you can begin feeding cassia twice a month with complex liquid mineral and organic fertilizers. From May to August, fertilizing is carried out weekly. When kept in warm conditions during winter, it can be fed every month.

In early spring, as needed, thorough pruning can be performed; in autumn, only the current year's shoots are trimmed back and only by one third. Cassia responds well to shaping, which offers an excellent opportunity to try the art of bonsai creation.