Saturday Photo: Jacaranda, Another Gift from the Colonies, Blooms in Lisbon

When I was in Lisbon the jacaranda were in bloom everywhere. Used as foliage trees in some parts of the US where they do not thrive, these South American natives are truly spectacular when conditions allow them to bloom. In my Southern California childhood there were a few, but nowhere near as many as the thousands which line Lisbon's old streets.

I'd seen them in São Paulo, Brazil, too, and had been told they were Brazilian natives, but several sources give Argentina and Bolivia as their home. Of course, back when plants were being brought back to Europe from colonies, boundaries were rather vague. Whatever, it seems they're so widely planted in Australia that there is a Christmas song featuring them:

"Christmas where the gum trees grow
There is no frost and there is no snow
Christmas in Australia's hot
Cold and frosty is what its not
When the bloom of the Jackaranda tree is here
Christmas time is near."