Tabebuia

''Tabebuia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.Eberhard Fischer, Inge Theisen, and Lúcia G. Lohmann. 2004. "Bignoniaceae". pages 9-38. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor) and Joachim W. Kadereit (volume editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. The common name "roble" is sometimes found in English. ''Tabebuias'' have been called "trumpet trees", but this name is usually applied to other trees and has become a source of confusion and misidentification.

''Tabebuia'' consists almost entirely of trees, but a few are often large shrubs. A few species produce timber, but the genus is mostly known for those that are cultivated as flowering trees.David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK.

''Tabebuia'' is native to the American tropics and subtropics from Mexico and the Caribbean to Argentina. Most of the species are from Cuba and Hispaniola.Susan O. Grose and Richard G. Olmstead. 2007. "Evolution of a Charismatic Neotropical Clade: Molecular Phylogeny of ''Tabebuia'' s.l., Crescentieae, and Allied Genera (Bignoniaceae)". ''Systematic Botany'' 32(3):650-659. It is commonly cultivated and often naturalized or adventive beyond its natural range. It easily escapes cultivation because of its numerous, air-borne seeds.George W. Staples and Derral R. Herbst. 2005. "A Tropical Garden Flora" Bishop Museum Press: Honolulu, HI, USA.

In 1992, a revision of ''Tabebuia'' described 99 species and one hybrid. Phylogenetic studies of DNA sequences later showed that ''Tabebuia'', as then circumscribed, was polyphyletic. In 2007, it was divided into three separate genera.Susan O. Grose and Richard G. Olmstead. 2007. "Taxonomic Revisions in the Polyphyletic Genus ''Tabebuia'' s.l. (Bignoniaceae)". ''Systematic Botany'' 32(3):660-670. (See ''External links'' below). Primavera ('' Roseodendron donnell-smithii'') and a related species with no unique common name (''Roseodendron chryseum'') were transferred to '' Roseodendron''. Those species known as ''ipê'' and ''pau d'arco'' (in Portuguese) or poui were transferred to ''Handroanthus''. Sixty-seven species remained in ''Tabebuia''. The former genus and polyphyletic group of 99 species described by Gentry in 1992 is now usually referred to as "''Tabebuia'' sensu lato".

Species

All of the species in the first two columns below were recognized and described by Gentry in 1992.Alwyn H. Gentry. 1992. "Bignoniaceae: Part II (Tribe Tecomeae)". ''Flora Neotropica'' Monograph 25(part 2):1-150. Listed in the third column are species names that have been used recently, but were not accepted by Gentry. The currently accepted synonym for each is in parentheses.

Some recently used names in ''Tabebuia'' that were not recognized by Gentry are not listed in the third column below because they apply to species that are now in ''Handroanthus''. ''Tabebuia spectabilis'' is an obsolete name for ''Handroanthus chrysanthus'' subsp. ''meridionalis''. ''Tabebuia ecuadorensis'' is now synonymized under ''Handroanthus billbergii''. ''Tabebuia heteropoda'' is now synonymized under '' Handroanthus ochraceus''.

No species that is now assigned to ''Roseodendron'' or to ''Handroanthus'' is listed below.

Authorities are cited for some of the names below. These can be found in Gentry (1992) or at the International Plant Names Index.''Tabebuia'' in International Plant Names Index. (see ''External links'' below).

Description

The description below is excerpted from Grose and Olmstead (2007).
* Trees or shrubs. Evergreen or dry season deciduous.
* Wood lacking lapachol; not especially dense or hard. Heartwood light brown to reddish brown, not distinct from sapwood.
* Leaves sometimes simple; usually palmately 3 to 7(9)-foliate; with stalked or sessile lepidote scales.
* Inflorescences usually few-flowered panicles, dichotomously branching, without a well-developed, central rachis.
* Calyx coriaceous, spathaceous; irregularly 2 to 3- labiate, rarely 5-dentate.
* Corolla yellow in 2 species (''T. aurea'' and ''T. nodosa''); otherwise white to pink, rarely red, often with a yellow throat.
* Stamens didynamous; staminode small.
* Ovary linear, bilocular.
* Ovules in 2 or 3 series in each locule.
* Fruit a dehiscent capsule, usually linear, sometimes ribbed, glabrous except for lepidote scales.
* Seeds thin, with 2 wings; wings hyaline, membranaceous, and sharply demarcated from the seed body.
''Tabebuia'' is distinguished from ''Handroanthus'' by wood that is not especially hard or heavy, and not abruptly divided into heartwood and sapwood. Lapachol is absent. Scales are present, but no hair. The calyx is usually spathaceous in ''Tabebuia'', but never so in ''Handroanthus''. Only two species of ''Tabebuia'' are yellow-flowered, but most species of ''Handroanthus'' are.

Unlike ''Roseodendron'', the calyx of ''Tabebuia'' is always distinctly harder and thicker than the corolla. ''Tabebuia'' always has a dichotomously branched inflorescence; never a central rachis as in ''Roseodendron''. Some species of ''Tabebuia'' have ribbed fruit, but not as conspicuously so as the two species of ''Roseodendron''.

Uses

The wood of ''Tabebuia'' is light to medium in weight. ''Tabebuia rosea'' (including ''T. pentaphylla'') is an important timber tree of tropical America.Samuel J. Record and Robert W. Hess. 1940. "American timbers of the family Bignoniaceae". ''Tropical Woods'' 63:9-38. ''Tabebuia heterophylla'' and ''Tabebuia angustata'' are the most important timber trees of some of the Caribbean islands. Their wood is of medium weight and is exceptionally durable in contact with salt water.Alwyn H. Gentry. 1992. "A Synopsis of Bignoniaceae Ethnobotany and Economic Botany". ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 79(1):53-64.

The swamp species of ''Tabebuia'' have wood that is unusually light in weight. The most prominent example of these is ''Tabebuia cassinoides''. Its roots produce a soft and spongy wood that is used for floats, razor strops, and the inner soles of shoes.

In spite of its use for lumber, ''Tabebuia'' is best known as an ornamental flowering tree. ''Tabebuia aurea'', ''Tabebuia rosea'', ''Tabebuia pallida'', ''Tabebuia berteroi'', and ''Tabebuia heterophylla'' are cultivated throughout the tropics for their showy flowers. ''Tabebuia dubia'', ''Tabebuia haemantha'', ''Tabebuia obtusifolia'', ''Tabebuia nodosa'', and ''Tabebuia roseo-alba'' are also known in cultivation and are sometimes locally abundant.Anthony Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (1992). ''The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening''. The Macmillan Press,Limited: London. The Stockton Press: New York. (set).

Some species of ''Tabebuia'' have been grown as honey plants by beekeepers. (2005): Beija-flores (Aves, Trochilidae) e seus recursos florais em uma área urbana do Sul do Brasil ummingbirds (Aves, Trochilidae) and their flowers in an urban area of southern Brazil ortuguese with English abstract''Revista Brasileira de Zoologia'' 22(1): 51–59.
PDF fulltext
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Ecology

The nectar of ''Tabebuia'' flowers is an important food source for several species of bees and hummingbirds.

Symbolism

''Tabebuia rosea'' is the national tree of El Salvador and the state tree of Cojedes, Venezuela.

Taxonomic history

The name ''Tabebuia'' entered the botanical literature in 1803, when António Bernardino Gomes used it as a common name for ''Tabebuia uliginosa'', now a synonym for ''Tabebuia cassinoides'', which he described as a species of ''Bignonia''.Antonio B. Gomes. 1803. ''Observationes Botanico-medicae de Nonnullis Brasiliae Plantis''. Lisbon. ''Tabebuia'' is an abbreviation of "tacyba bebuya", a Tupi name meaning "ant wood".Alwyn H. Gentry. 1969. "''Tabebuia'', the tortuous history of a generic name (Bignoniaceae)". ''Taxon'' 18(6):635-642. Among the Indigenous peoples in Brazil, similar names exist for various species of ''Tabebuia''. (See ''External links'' below).

''Tabebuia'' was first used as a generic name by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1838.Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. 1838. "Revue sommaire de la famille des Bignoniaceae". ''Bibliotheque Universelle de Genève'', series 2, 17:130. The type species for the genus is ''Tabebuia uliginosa'', which is now a synonym for '' Tabebuia cassinoides''.''Tabebuia'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see ''External links'' below). Confusion soon ensued over the meaning of ''Tabebuia'' and what to include within it. Most of the misunderstanding was cleared up by Nathaniel Lord Britton in 1915.Nathaniel Lord Britton. 1915. "Studies of West Indian plants". ''Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club'' 42(7):372-379. Britton revived the concept of ''Tabebuia'' that had been originated in 1876 by Bentham and Hooker, consisting of species with either simple or palmately compound leaves.George Bentham and Joseph D. Hooker. 1876. ''Genera plantarum :ad exemplaria imprimis in Herberiis Kewensibus servata definita'' vol. 2 part 2:1026-1053. Reeve & Co. London, England. (See ''External links'' below). Similar plants with pinnately compound leaves were placed in '' Tecoma''. This is the concept of ''Tabebuia'' that was usually followed until 2007.

The genus ''Roseodendron'' was established by Faustino Miranda González in 1965 for the two species now known as '' Roseodendron donnell-smithii'' and ''Roseodendron chryseum''.Faustino Miranda-Gonzalez. 1965. "Estudios acerca de arboles y arbustos de America Tropical principamente de Mexico". ''Boletin de la Sociedad Botanica de Mexico'' 29( ):34-49. These species had been placed in '' Cybistax'' by Russell J. Seibert in 1940,Russell J. Seibert. 1940. "New names in ''Cybistax'' and ''Tabebuia''". ''Tropical Woods'' 63:7-8. but were returned to ''Tabebuia'' by Alwyn H. Gentry in 1992.

''Handroanthus'' was established by Joáo Rodrigues de Mattos in 1970.Joáo Rodrigues de Mattos. 1970. "''Handroanthus'', Um novo gênero para os "ipês" do Brasil". ''Loefgrenia'' 50(?):1-4. Gentry did not agree with the segregation of ''Handroanthus'' from ''Tabebuia'' and warned against "succumbing to further paroxysms of unwarranted splitting".Alwyn H. Gentry. 1972. "''Handroanthus'' (Bignoniaceae): A critique". ''Taxon'' 21(1):113-114. In 1992, Gentry published a revision of ''Tabebuia'' in Flora Neotropica, in which he described 99 species and 1 hybrid, including those species placed by some authors in ''Roseodendron'' or ''Handroanthus''. Gentry divided ''Tabebuia'' into 10 "species groups", some of them intentionally artificial. ''Tabebuia'', as currently circumscribed, consists of groups 2,6,7,8,9, and 10. Group 1 is now the genus ''Roseodendron''. Groups 3,4, and 5 compose the genus ''Handroanthus''.

In 2007, a molecular phylogenetic study found ''Handroanthus'' to be closer to a certain group of four genera than to ''Tabebuia''. This group consists of '' Spirotecoma'', '' Parmentiera'', ''Crescentia'', and ''Amphitecna''. A phylogenetic tree can be seen at Bignoniaceae. ''Handroanthus'' was duly resurrected and 30 species were assigned to it, with species boundaries the same as those of Gentry (1992).

''Roseodendron'' was resolved as sister to a clade consisting of ''Handroanthus'' and four other genera. This result had only weak statistical support, but ''Roseodendron'' clearly did not group with the remainder of ''Tabebuia''. Consequently, ''Roseodendron'' was resurrected in its original form. The remaining 67 species of ''Tabebuia'' formed a strongly supported clade that is sister to '' Ekmanianthe'', a genus of two species from Cuba and Hispaniola. ''Tabebuia'' had been traditionally placed in the tribe Tecomeae, but that tribe is now defined much more narrowly than it had been, and it now excludes ''Tabebuia''.Richard G. Olmstead, Michelle L. Zjhra, Lúcia G. Lohmann, Susan O. Grose, and Andrew J. Eckert. 2009. "A molecular phylogeny and classification of Bignoniaceae". ''American Journal of Botany'' 96(9):1731-1743. ''Tabebuia'' is now one of 12 to 14 genera belonging to a group that is informally called the ''Tabebuia'' alliance. This group has not been placed at any particular taxonomic rank.

Cladistic analysis of DNA data has strongly supported ''Tabebuia'' by Bayesian inference and maximum parsimony. Such studies have so far revealed almost nothing about relationships within the genus, placing nearly all of the sampled species in a large polytomy.

Gallery of ''Tabebuia'' flowers

File:Tabebuia caraiba.JPG, "Tabebuia aurea"
Image:Tabebuia rosealba flowers1.jpg, '' Tabebuia roseo-alba''
Castle in bloom (2351687460).jpg, '' Tabebuia impetiginosa'' at Disneyland

References

Sources

* (1992): ''Árvores brasileiras: manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas nativas do Brasil.''

External links

HTML fulltext ''Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana''

CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: R-ZBotany & Plant ScienceLife ScienceCRC Press

''Tabebuia''Plant NamesIPNI

''Tabebuia''Index Nominum GenericorumResearch and CollectionsSmithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Molecular Phylogeny of Tabebuia and Allied GeneraPDFVolume 32, Issue 3List of Issues
* (2007):
Taxonomic Revisions in the Polyphyletic Genus Tabebuia s. l. (Bignoniaceae)
'. In: ''Systematic Botany'', volume 32, issue 3, pp. 660–670.

''Taxonomic Revisions in the Polyphyletic Genus Tabebuia s. l. (Bignoniaceae)''

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Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle