PlantFiles: Golden Shower Tree, Purging Cassia, Golden Chain Tree, Indian Laburnum
Cassia fistula

**Upon recent bloom, has become apparent that my particular plant is actually Senna Alata, Description moved to appropriate Plant File**

I have seen some beautiful specimens, easily twenty feet tall, growing in Palm Beach county, Florida. Does anyone know how easy they are to train? I'd like to make an arbor like the one posted in the pictures section for Laburnum Anagyroides. The Cassia trees appear brittle, so I'm not sure how easy it is to shape them.

I have had this tree for years, it seems to attract spider mites. It rarley has blooms and grows very, very slow. I live In New Jersey. I wonder if its get too cold in the winter for it. I see every one else that has had sucess lives in much warmer climates. Im going to load it up with miracid, maybe that will help.

I see these trees all around where I live in Lakeland, Florida. I think they're beautiful.I aquired some seed to sow. But, I recently read on another forum that they often don't bloom when grown by seed. Something about it's gene pool and the odds would be like 1 out of a thousand grown by seed might bloom.
Does anyone know if that's true? I'd hate to grow some by seeds, only to find out a few years later that it's not ever going to bloom.
Thanks, [e-mail:Cheryldawn@tampadsl.net]

Cassia fistula , aka Golden Shower Tree is a tropical tree that grows from zones 9b and warmer. Both it and the similar-looking Laburnum anagyroides have hanging wisteria like blooms in beautiful yellows.

Not bad for an exotic. Nearby there is a boulevard with these planted all along it. It looked nice in the spring. They all bloomed at the same time. I seem to remember the bloom hit around april/mayish definitely not june or july as some of the nearby reports have indicated but I suppose that depends on the microclimate. They look like nice shade trees. Too bad no one showed a closeup of the bark or closeups of the leaves.

Gives florida some badly needed color. Don't get too excited though, the flowers only last about a week. A native alternative for someone living in Florida would be the redbud but those don't get as large.

I have been driving past one of these trees on my way to work in St. Petersburg, FL, and the beautiful flowers recently made me notice it in detail. I decided to go by there on my day off and take some photos (uploaded to this site today).

St. Petersburg is often listed as Zone 9, but I have also seen us listed as Zone 10, and I believe perhaps "Zone 9b."

The tree I photographed is about 20 feet tall and also had numerous seed pods on it. Since one pod was laying on the ground outside the owner's fence, I "rescued" it and brought it home to see if I can grow the seeds!

Took me a while to figure out what this tree was called, but since I had recently learned about the Royal Poinciana tree (Delonix regia) (a tree with vaguely similar seed pods and beautiful red flowers--although very different leaves), I decided to start searching the database under the family of the Royal Poinciana (Caesalpiniaceae), and soon found this one.

I live in singapore and there are plenty of 'golden shower' trees growing here. when the flowers bloom, the golden shower looks spectacular, especially when it is covered with hanging bunches of yellow flowers. the golden shower is popular among butterflies and you can usually see one or two around a golden shower tree. the pods are long, green and sausage like, turning black with maturity. many can often be found hanging from a single tree. all in all, a beautiful plant good for decoration.

It's working! A fistful of Cassia fistula seeds from a single pod collected in the wild in April 2003 sat dormant in a tray of sand, outdoors, watered...until last week. As an experiment, I:
a) sifted out the seeds
b) lightly nicked the hard outer seed-cases with a pair of nail-clippers, being very careful not to damage the embryos;
c) let the nicked seeds sit overnight in a cup of water; and
d) sowed the bloated up little fellas in a 50:50 combination of peat and sand in a seed tray the following morning.

That was on the April 20, 2004. Delighted to report that the tops of the seeds are just beginning to emerge from cover - a sure sign of rapid activity below? All this, happening in South India where the temp is around 34 degrees C.

C. fistula grows wild in most Southern Indian jungles, and a bit of a rarity in urban gardens. The few that I've seen in and around town appear rather stunted (possibly because they are young?) but still "showy" when in bloom - as some indeed are right now - and nothing close to their larger wild cousins! I've also been warned that they are a delicate species and need all the TLC one can lavish on them - at least for the first three years. But what's exciting is that last years seeds had lain dormant for a good 12 months, just waiting to happen. Viva mum nature!!!

13th May: Update
24 delicate little goldenshower baby trees, each identical in almost all respects, all a uniform 3 inches tall...

I bought a house two years ago with a Weeping Golden Chain Tree in the front yard. I have no idea how old it is but it stands about 3 feet high, and so far has not bloomed. It may be I don't get enough sun because of large street trees.

I bought a chain tree two years ago, and I'm not sure how old needs to be be before it starts blooming .

Edgewood, Washington

The tree resemblies a wisteria when in bloom, only in a nice yellow 1 foot hanging blooms that completely cover the entire tree. Makes a great tree for the late spring blooms that completely cover the tree. Is a small ornamental tree to about 20-25 foot tall at maturity.

I have recently moved to Honolulu, Hawaii (assigned to a military post... and military housing at Red Hill). I have a fully grown variant of the Golden Shower tree in my front yard.

Here in Rio de Janeiro we have some really big Cassia fistula. When they bloom, the ground gets covered with white petals and stamens. Although it´s a wonderful looking tree, it's not recomended for parking places (imagine it, you park your red car, and when you return, it's all yellow :^P)

Cassia fistula (Golden Shower Tree or Purging Cassia) is a late spring to mid-summer bloomer (with the heaviest blooming in June) that puts on a massive golden yellow floral display. The fragrant flowers are very attractive to bees and butterflies. Cassia is a very large genus with about 500 species, the better known members of which are fine flowering trees. To many, the finest cassia is the fistula.

Cassia fistula is a legume, rated 30-40 feet and native to India and South Asia. Golden Shower is related to the Jerusalem Thorn Tree and redbud.

The foliage is medium green and compound providing a nice open, lacy look.

Flowers are light yellow hanging in groups almost 12 inches in length. This cassia is a summer bloomer starting as early as April then through August and a South Florida favorite.

Easy to grow, C. fistula is tolerant of many soils and light salt drift. Once established, it is a carefree tree with few requirements except food.

Cassia is a huge genus that includes many of the most colorful trees and shrubs in the tropics. Most Cassia shrubs are heavy bloomers with yellow flowers, are rated 15-30 feet and many are trained to be small trees. Plant them in full sun for best flowering. Groups of three are very nice as a medium height focal point.