Caesalpinia pulcherrima (Dwarf Poinciana)

[miamicuse]

I bought a few Caesalpinia pulcherrima last year and they are shrubbery plants with multiple pencil size trunks.  Here is a picture of two of them.  They are about 40" tall.

Then this year I saw some at another nursery, yet these are single trunk tree like plants, about 7 feet tall.  So I bought a few of those as well.

Are there two forms of this plant or is this just how different growers shape/trim their plants?

[Silas_Sancona]

8 hours ago, miamicuse said:

I bought a few Caesalpinia pulcherrima last year and they are shrubbery plants with multiple pencil size trunks.  Here is a picture of two of them.  They are about 40" tall.

Then this year I saw some at another nursery, yet these are single trunk tree like plants, about 7 feet tall.  So I bought a few of those as well.

Are there two forms of this plant or is this just how different growers shape/trim their plants?

Mainly how they are shaped by the grower...  See the same thing here too every so often.  If there are two forms, only difference between 'em is prickly- ness.. One, most commonly seen there in FL. has definite thorns on the stems, while another ( most commonly grown here ) has flexible, bristle-like hairs on the stems..  Flowers, leaves, growth form is otherwise exactly the same.

[miamicuse]

15 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Mainly how they are shaped by the grower...  See the same thing here too every so often.  If there are two forms, only difference between 'em is prickly- ness.. One, most commonly seen there in FL. has definite thorns on the stems, while another ( most commonly grown here ) has flexible, bristle-like hairs on the stems..  Flowers, leaves, growth form is otherwise exactly the same.

Thank you!

So if I want the shrub form to grow more into a small tree form, I can cut off all the stems except one or the multi stem ones have to stay multi stems?

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, miamicuse said:

Thank you!

So if I want the shrub form to grow more into a small tree form, I can cut off all the stems except one or the multi stem ones have to stay multi stems?

Yep, you can remove as much of the branches off the multi- stemmed ones as you desire ..focusing growth to just a few stems until those reach a desired height, then allowing it / them  to form a canopy... 

Keeping them as a small tree might mean constantly  trimming off any new growth that appears from the base though.

There are plenty of specimens here that will easily reach 8-10ft+ in height if not cut back yearly / bi- yearly ( every other year ).

If you look through the thread i put together a couple years back, you'll see some specimens that peek over a 7ft wall..  ...And others that might be quite "bushy" but are also quite tall.  
 

What amazes me is many specimens in commercial landscapes are often cut to about 12-16" off the ground, with everything stripped off of them, and as soon as it warms up, they're back to about 6ft by mid/ late June.