Very unusual flowers

Flowers of a firewheel tree (Stenocarpus sinuatus)
Originally uploaded by jeffwc00

During a visit to Balboa Park, a couple trees at the lawn bowling courts caught my attention. (This is in an area of the park known as West Mesa; it's a relatively thin strip of land immediately west of State Route 163; the large bulk of the park is to the east of that highway.)

Specifically, the bright red flowers on the trees caught my eye.

As I got close I realized I was looking at one of the more unusually structured flowers I've ever seen, as seen in this photo I took at the time.

I was unable at the time to determine what the tree is called, which frustrated me, because I vastly prefer to be able to ID a plant I have taken a photo of when I put it online.

This afternoon I visited the park's Botanical Building, and on the way out noticed some pamphlets that were available for the taking.Viola! One of them had details of many notable plants on the West Mesa, including these trees.

And so I am pleased to present these flowers of a firewheel tree. (Formal name: Stenocarpus sinuatus)