Royal Poinciana 5 Samen, Flamboyant Tree, Flame Tree, Peacock Flower

I'm going to give 4 stars for this because only 4 out of 5 seeds were viable. Admittedly, I only want one tree - but still - one of the seeds was really small and thin - didn't even take up the soaking water. Another point of feedback is that poinciana is hard to germinate and no instructions were provided. I bought these seeds because I wanted the red colour, but I've had a lot of practice on local seeds in a different colour. You have to pre-soak them for 24 hours, then fish them out an 'scarify' them - this means scratching them quite hard with a knife or file. Personally, I then put the seeds between layers of wet kitchen paper, and I only plant them once they have swollen up, and the tough outer skin has started to peel. I actually had two of them put out the first signs of a root this way. Some writers recommend the initial soaking to be in hot water. We have had quite a few seeds that we thought were dead, and then when we have heat-treated the potting compost to sterilise it before using it again, and then they suddenly sprout (after 4 hours in the slow cooker) - amazing. Anyway, bottom line is that if you're too gentle, you won't get anything! But if you persevere you get a truly beautiful tree.