If you are looking for a fast growing tropical tree that produces shadow quickly the Butterfly Pea tree (Clitoria racemosa) is a good solution. This beautiful ornamental tree from Brasil grows quickly even on terrible soil. At Discovery Garden in Pattaya (Thailand) we have trees for show and sale as well as fresh seeds of clitoria racemosa.

Flowers of the Butterfly Pea tree (Clitoria racemosa) in Pattaya, Thailand

Before I knew the proper name of the beautiful Butterfly Pea tree (Clitoria racemosa) I used to call it “Brazilian Bean” tree. On my many trips through Brazil where it originally comes from I had seen a single tree in Fortaleza. I fell in love instantly with the beautiful violet flowers and the decorative beans and wanted to grow it at Discovery Garden Pattaya too.

The seeds of the Butterfly Pea tree (Clitoria racemosa) are in those beans

The seeds germinated quickly and the trees grew very fast, reaching a height of about 2 meters within a year. The roots are very strong and grow deep very quickly too, which makes the Butterfly Pea tree an ideal plant to stabilize otherwise eroding soil. Actually I did not want to plant some of my trees where they stand now, but their roots just took apart their pots and those trees cannot be moved any longer.

Clitoria racemosa trees have powerful roots

Within only 2 years after germination my Clitoria racemosa trees reached a height of 4 meters on terrible soil and they flowered already and had those characteristic and decorative bean seed pods. If you want to shade an area quickly – for instance around a tropical pond – the Butterfly Pea tree is a formidable solution.

You can grow plants requiring shadow under the Butterfly Pea trees

Any visitor of Discovery Garden outside Pattaya is intrigued when seeing Clitoria racemosa which are also called Sombreiro in Brazilian as well as “Shadow for the cow”. But even my Thai gardeners love those trees and have asked for seedlings for their own plots.

Clitoria racemosa trees have beautiful flowers at Discovery Garden Pattaya, Thailand

My cats – on the other hand – hate Butterfly Pea trees…When the beans turn brown and mature, they explode with a big bang and throw their seeds over large distances thus becoming a somewhat invasive primary cultivar. But we still manage to collect enough Clitoria racemosa seeds for sale.

After the big bang clitoria racemosa seeds are everywhere