Bauhinia ungulata

Bauhinia ungulata is a small to medium-sized tree or large shrub in the Fabaceae family, reaching 3 to 8 metres in height, widely distributed across tropical Central and South America, particularly in seasonally dry forests and savannas. The trunk bears greyish, fissured bark and the young branches are slightly zigzagged and often pubescent. The alternate leaves are characteristically bilobed — a feature shared across the genus — appearing like a cloven hoof, deeply divided to roughly half their length into two ovate to lanceolate lobes with palmate venation. Leaves measure 4 to 10 centimetres long and are dull green and slightly leathery. The flowers are conspicuous, with five narrow, white to cream petals that fade to pale yellow with age, borne in few-flowered racemes; they emit a sweet nocturnal fragrance and are pollinated chiefly by bats and hawkmoths. Fruits are flat, dehiscent legumes 10 to 20 centimetres long containing several flattened seeds.