In Australia this species is called the itchy bomb tree, because its seed capsules split to release fibrous hairs that irritate any skin that handles them.
Norfolk Island Hibiscus
Lagunaria patersonii
Lagunaria patersonii comes from one small island in the Tasman Sea, Norfolk Island, a native range of about thirty-five square kilometres that makes almost anywhere else it grows a transplant by definition. We map 4 of them, in 4 cities.
Coastal cities plant it for a practical reason: it tolerates salt wind and poor soil better than most ornamental trees, and it flowers in summer in pale pink cups that pass for a small hibiscus. The seed pods carry the species' other reputation, packed with fine hairs that itch for hours if opened carelessly, which is why English speakers call it the itchy bomb tree and Catalans the pica-pica. Barcelona's in the Teatre Grec gardens is about 103 years old, and Seville's in the Jardines de la Madrina has reached 22 metres.
Seville
Barcelona
Barcelona planted this tree for its flowers and got itching powder with them.
Photo: Pere Lopez Brosa (pere prlpz) (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Palma de Mallorca
Locals call it pica-pica, and the name is a warning rather than an insult.
Setubal
This tree comes from an island of thirty-five square kilometres in the Pacific, thirteen thousand kilometres away, and there are not many of them in Portugal.
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