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Calliandra

Genus of legumes

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
4 min read
Source updated August 10, 2026
Image credit is listed at the end of this article.

Calliandra is a genus of flowering plants in the pea family, Fabaceae, in the mimosoid clade of the subfamily Caesalpinioideae. It contains about 140 species that are native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas.

01Description

The genus comprises herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and rarely small trees, growing 0.5-6 m (1.5-19.5 feet) tall, with bipinnate leaves. The flowers are produced in cylindrical or globose inflorescences and have numerous long slender stamens which give rise to the common names powder-puff, powder puff plant, and fairy duster. These plants flower all year round, but the best blooming is in spring and summer. They can be easily pruned.

Calliandra are often fed on by caterpillars, such as the larvae of statira sulphur (Aphrissa statira). It is available in many vibrant colours such as pink, white, etc.

02Species

The following is an alphabetical listing of the 153 species in the genus Genus that are accepted by Plants of the World Online as of August 2026

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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Calliandra”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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