| Origins | South China, native to Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. Also distributed in Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar and India. |
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| Applications | Blossoming with snow-white flowers and a light fragrance, White Bauhinia is a popular option for street tree and gardening. Furthermore, as reported in Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae and Flora of Guangdong, its flowers can be consumed as vegetables. |
| Variety | White Bauhinia (白花洋紫荊 in Chinese) is also named as “White Camel's Foot (白花羊蹄甲)” in Chinese. So what are the relationships of this species with Hong Kong Orchid Tree (洋紫荊), Purple Camel’s Foot (紅花羊蹄甲) and Camel’s Foot Tree (宮粉羊蹄甲)? The names of these four species look tangled and complicated, but their relationships are comparatively easy to be understood. From the scientific names of White Bauhinia, we know the species is a variety which is mutated from Camel’s Foot Tree (Bauhinia variegata L.). The main differences are shown on its flowers - petals become white, and the purplish red stripes on the upper petals turn green. We can simply comprehend White Bauhinia is an albino of Camel’s Foot Tree. Hence, the variety name is given as “candida” in its scientific name, which means pure white. While Hong Kong Orchid Tree (Bauhinia x blakeana Dunn) is the hybrid of Purple Camel’s Foot (Bauhinia purpurea L.) and Camel’s Foot Tree. |
