Ferroelectric/ ferroelastic dendritic single domain crystals of BiFeO₃ were grown in the ferroelectric phase in a Bi₂O₃/B₂O₃/Fe₂O₃ flux using a platinum crucible, placed in an evacuated sealed quartz tube. Etching of the crystals shows the non-centrosymmetric polar character of the crystals. The single domains can be rendered ferroelastically polydomain by heating above the phase transition temperature of 1110 K and subsequent cooling or by mechanical twinning using stress components along the spontaneous polarization direction, which represents the longest pseudocubic space diagonal. Mechanical detwinning has also been observed. Etching of the twinned crystals at room temperature showed no 180° ferroelectric domains inside the ferroelastic domains.