Ah, the coast. I didn't want to leave, and since I had to, I figured I'd take a picture of the trees I fell in love with, and try to find out a bit more about them. I'm figuring this is in either the Fabaceae or more narrowly the Mimosideae, but I've no idea where to start looking for the other names, since Ecuador is Fabaceae-land. The tree grows to about 8-10 meters with a gently flattening and spreading umbrella canopy (as seen in pic #1). Leaves are compound pinnate, paler green towards the tips; closeup in pic #2. Flowers are red - I actually only saw one of these trees in bloom, and that was from a speeding bus so I don't have a picture of this. No thorns that I could find. I apologise for the slight overexposure in the first picture, but that was actually the least overexposed angle - beach sun in the morning is extremely bright. Any help is greatly appreciated; if I can find out what it is and whether it will grow at altitude, I can put one in my garden.
When I return to the coast I shall endeavour to find one in bloom; however Googling on Delonix regia turns up trees that are remarkably similar. Thanks!
