Unknown Flower

Absolutely beautiful!

looks almost hibiscus-like to me???

This looks very much like a picture I posted a few months ago. Big tree.
Delonix named it....
Ceiba speciosa (fka: Chorisia speciosa) or Silk floss tree flower

Alexandramou:

You learned something from me. LOL! :>)

It is Ceiba speciosa (fka: Chorisia speciosa) or Silk floss tree flower. Typically, this tree blooms from late summer through fall. It can become a very large tree with many hundreds of thousands of flowers. Some of the largest trees here in California are 100ft/31m tall.

Dwyllis: Here's some of pics:

http://www.growsonyou.com/Delonix1/photos/Chorisia

http://www.growsonyou.com/Delonix1/photos/ceiba

Thankyou for that information Alexandramou & Delonix. It's always great to be able to put a name to a beautiful plant .... & I thought this flower would be growing on a shrub! It must look absolutely magnificent when that tree is fully-grown. Obviously favours sub-tropical climate, which is why it is growing way up high on our North Island, & I've never seen it growing anywhere else ... the rest of NZ is Temperate in climate .. so it is the same as UK, though we have hotter summers in the North Island & the top of the South Island, & no snow in most places throughout the North Island.

Yes, it is a magnificent tree when fully-grown and in full bloom. It is a subtropical tree, however, is pretty hardy...although, not to heavy frost or snow. It's native to southern Brazil.