Homage Bauhinia

Continuing our poetic homage to the trees of Northstar, we present Bauhinia.

A kingdom of trees in my school
A sentinel of summer, Bauhinia
A school of nations
Algeria, Nigeria, Siberia
I will take my leave from them
Me and this Bauhinia
My Bauhinia has leaves like camel feet
Oh the camels, they remind me
Of the kingdom of Abyssinia
And the flowers like orchids and purple,
Like those of Wisteria
A kingdom of trees
A summer sentinel, Bauhinia.

The beautiful purple flowers shed their petals on the ground in winter. What a sight, every single year in winter. We have many Bauhinias around the campus. The two large sones are in the swimming pool compound. I remember when we planted them, so tiny, so fragile. Now they are towering above the compound walls, perhaps 20 ft high. The camel toe leaves are very distinctive and beautiful in their own right. Come to Northstar in the winter, if for nothing else, then simple for our Bauhinia.