genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales commonly known as the bignonias or trumpetvines.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Book ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

Handroanthus guayacan ''Handroanthus guayacan'', is a Bignoniaceae tree native to South America and the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Veracruz. References guayacan ''Guaiacum'' (''OED'' 2nd edition, 1989.name ''Handroanthus'' was established in 1970,''Handroanthus'' in International Plant Names Index. (see ''External links'' below). but was not generally accepted. In 1992, its species were included in ''

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 ...

'' in the most recent revision of that genus.Alwyn H. Gentry. 1992. "Bignoniaceae: Part II (Tribe Tecomeae)". ''Flora Neotropica'' Monograph 25(part 2):1-150. ''Handroanthus'' was resurrected in 2007 when a comparison of DNA sequences by

cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

methods showed that ''Tabebuia'', as then circumscribed, was not monophyletic.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.Susan O. Grose and Richard G. Olmstead. 2007. "Taxonomic Revisions in the Polyphyletic Genus ''Tabebuia'' s.l. (Bignoniaceae)". ''Systematic Botany'' 32(3):660-670. ''Handroanthus'' are

indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology), presence in a region as the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention *Indigenous (band), an American blues-rock band *Indigenous (horse), a Hong Kong racehorse ...

from

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

to northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

,

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, with one species, '' Handroanthus billbergii'', native to northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

and the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

. ''Handroanthus'' are frequently cultivated far from their

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

range Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to i ...

, as ornamental trees, for their large and showy flowers. They easily become naturalized where introduced because their seeds are prolifically produced and widely scattered by the wind.George W. Staples and Derral R. Herbst. 2005. "A Tropical Garden Flora" Bishop Museum Press: Honolulu, HI, USA. Several species are important timber trees of the American

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referr ...

.Alwyn H. Gentry. 1992. "A Synopsis of Bignoniaceae Ethnobotany and Economic Botany". ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 79(1):53-64. Medicinal use has been reported, but its efficacy and

side effects In medicine, a side effect is an effect, whether therapeutic or adverse, that is secondary to the one intended; although the term is predominantly employed to describe adverse effects, it can also apply to beneficial, but unintended, consequence ...

have not been well studied.

Species

Species include: * '' Handroanthus albus'' (

Chamisso Adelbert von Chamisso (; 30 January 178121 August 1838) was a German poet and botanist, author of ''Peter Schlemihl'', a famous story about a man who sold his shadow. He was commonly known in French as Adelbert de Chamisso (or Chamissot) de Bonc ...

) J.R. Mattos * '' Handroanthus billbergii'' (

Bureau Bureau ( ) may refer to: Agencies and organizations * Government agency *Public administration * News bureau, an office for gathering or distributing news, generally for a given geographical location * Bureau (European Parliament), the administra ...

& K.M. Schumann) S. Grose * ''

Handroanthus chrysanthus ''Handroanthus chrysanthus'' (araguaney or yellow ipê), formerly classified as ''Tabebuia chrysantha'', also known as ''araguaney'' in Venezuela, as ''guayacán'' in Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, as ''tajibo'' in Bolivia, and as ''ipê-amarelo ...

'' ( Jacquin) S. Grose * '' Handroanthus chrysotrichus'' ( Martius ex A.P. de Candolle) J.R. Mattos * ''

Handroanthus guayacan ''Handroanthus guayacan'', is a Bignoniaceae tree native to South America and the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Veracruz. References guayacan ''Guaiacum'' (''OED'' 2nd edition, 1989.Seemann) S. Grose * ''

Handroanthus heptaphyllus ''Handroanthus heptaphyllus'', commonly referred to as the pink trumpet tree or pink tab, is a Bignoniaceae tree native to tropical and subtropical regions of South America. It grows in the high forest watershed of the Paraná River, Paraguay Ri ...

'' ( Vellozo) J.R. Mattos * ''

Handroanthus impetiginosus ''Handroanthus impetiginosus'', the pink ipê, pink lapacho or pink trumpet tree, is a tree in the family Bignoniaceae, distributed throughout North, Central and South America, from northern Mexico south to northern Argentina. It is the national ...

'' (Martius ex A.P. de Candolle) J.R. Mattos * '' Handroanthus incanus'' ( A.H. Gentry) S. Grose * '' Handroanthus lapacho'' (K.M. Schumann) S. Grose * '' Handroanthus ochraceus'' (Chamisso) J.R. Mattos * '' Handroanthus serratifolius'' (

Vahl Vahl is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Christian-Friedrich Vahl (born 1955), German cardiac surgeon * Emanuel Vahl (born 1938), Ukrainian-Israeli composer *Herbert-Ernst Vahl, German SS general *Jens Vahl (1796–1854), Danis ...

) S.O. Grose * '' Handroanthus subtilis'' (

Sprague Sprague may refer to: Places ;Canada * Sprague, Manitoba, a small town near the Minnesota/Manitoba border ;United States * Sprague, Alabama, Montgomery County, Alabama * Sprague, Connecticut * Sprague, Missouri * Sprague, Nebraska * Sprague ...

& Sandwith) S. Grose * '' Handroanthus umbellatus'' ( Sonder) J.R. Mattos * '' Handroanthus vellosoi'' ( Toledo) J.R. Mattos

Description

The following description is excerpted from the

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distrib ...

that resurrected ''Handroanthus'' in 2007. *

Tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s or occasionally shrubs. *

Wood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin ...

is very dense.

Heartwood Wood is a porous and fibrous structural tissue found in the stems and roots of trees and other woody plants. It is an organic materiala natural composite of cellulose fibers that are strong in tension and embedded in a matrix of lignin t ...

distinct from sapwood, olive brown to black, lapachol present in large quantities. * Leaves palmately (3)5-9_ foliate. * Leaflets with various types of

trichome Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a p ...

s as well as lepidote

scales Scale or scales may refer to: Mathematics * Scale (descriptive set theory), an object defined on a set of points * Scale (ratio), the ratio of a linear dimension of a model to the corresponding dimension of the original * Scale factor, a number w ...

. *

Inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

with

dichotomous branching This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

. * Calyx

coriaceous This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

,

campanulate This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

, 5 dentate,

pubescent The adjective pubescent may describe: * people or animals undergoing puberty * plants that are hairy, covered in trichomes * insects that are covered in setae In biology, setae (singular seta ; from the Latin word for "bristle") are any of a ...

. * Corolla tubular,

yellow Yellow is the color between green and orange on the spectrum of light. It is evoked by light with a dominant wavelength of roughly 575585 nm. It is a primary color in subtractive color systems, used in painting or color printing. In the ...

or

magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish- red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blu ...

with yellow throat. * Stamens didynamous;

Theca In biology, a theca (plural thecae) is a sheath or a covering. Botany In botany, the theca is related to plant's flower anatomy. The theca of an angiosperm consists of a pair of microsporangia that are adjacent to each other and share a comm ...

e

divaricate Divaricate means branching, or having separation or a degree of separation. The angle between branches is wide. In botany In botany, the term is often used to describe the branching pattern of plants. Plants are said to be divaricating when the ...

; Staminode reduced. * Ovary conical to

linear Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...

, bilocular. *

Ovule In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the '' integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the ...

s in 2 to 10 series in each locule. *

Fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...

an elongate dehiscent capsule. *

Seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s thin with 2

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expre ...

. Wings thin and sharply demarcated from seed body. ''Handroanthus'' is distinguished from ''Tabebuia'' by several morphological

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to The ...

. The wood is among the hardest and heaviest known. The heartwood is distinct from the sapwood and contains large quantities of lapachol. ''Handroanthus'' has the same lepidote scales as ''Tabebuia'', but also has various types of hair. The calyx is 5-dentate and campanulate to cupular. The corolla is yellow, except in those four species where it is magenta with a yellow throat. ''Tabebuia'' has only two yellow-flowered species, '' Tabebuia aurea'' and '' Tabebuia nodosa''. The fruit of ''Handroanthus'' is rarely

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

like that of ''Tabebuia''. It usually ranges from sparsely pubescent to densely

tomentose Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a pl ...

.

Uses

''Handroanthus'' is widely used as ornamental tree in the tropics in

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...

gardens, public squares, and boulevards due to its impressive and colorful flowering. Many flowers appear on still leafless stems at the end of the

dry season The dry season is a yearly period of low rainfall, especially in the tropics. The weather in the tropics is dominated by the tropical rain belt, which moves from the northern to the southern tropics and back over the course of the year. The te ...

, making the floral display more conspicuous. ''

Handroanthus impetiginosus ''Handroanthus impetiginosus'', the pink ipê, pink lapacho or pink trumpet tree, is a tree in the family Bignoniaceae, distributed throughout North, Central and South America, from northern Mexico south to northern Argentina. It is the national ...

'', '' Handroanthus chrysotrichus'', and '' Handroanthus ochraceus'' are well-known throughout the

tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referr ...

. ''

Handroanthus chrysanthus ''Handroanthus chrysanthus'' (araguaney or yellow ipê), formerly classified as ''Tabebuia chrysantha'', also known as ''araguaney'' in Venezuela, as ''guayacán'' in Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador, as ''tajibo'' in Bolivia, and as ''ipê-amarelo ...

'', ''

Handroanthus guayacan ''Handroanthus guayacan'', is a Bignoniaceae tree native to South America and the Mexican states of Campeche, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Quintana Roo, Tabasco, and Veracruz. References guayacan ''Guaiacum'' (''OED'' 2nd edition, 1989.Handroanthus serratifolius'', '' Handroanthus umbellatus'', and '' Handroanthus vellosoi'' are also planted in warm climates.

Anthony Huxley Anthony Julian Huxley (2 December 1920 – 26 December 1992) was a British botanist. He edited ''Amateur Gardening'' from 1967 to 1971, and was vice-president of the Royal Horticultural Society in 1991. He was the son of Julian Huxley. He was ...

, 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). ''

Handroanthus heptaphyllus ''Handroanthus heptaphyllus'', commonly referred to as the pink trumpet tree or pink tab, is a Bignoniaceae tree native to tropical and subtropical regions of South America. It grows in the high forest watershed of the Paraná River, Paraguay Ri ...

'', ''Handroanthus serratifolius'', ''Handroanthus guayacan'', ''Handroanthus chrysanthus'', and '' Handroanthus billbergii'' are important timber trees of the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

. The wood of ''Handroanthus billbergii'' is valued for

carving Carving is the act of using tools to shape something from a material by scraping away portions of that material. The technique can be applied to any material that is solid enough to hold a form even when pieces have been removed from it, and ...

. Indigenous peoples of the Amazon made hunting bows from the wood, which is the source of the common name ''pau d'arco'', "bow stick". Much of the

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

from ''Handroanthus'' is

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

ed. The wood is durable outdoors, where it is usually used for furniture and decking. It is increasingly popular as a decking material due to its insect resistance and durability. ''Handroanthus'' and the unrelated ''

Guaiacum ''Guaiacum'' (''OED'' 2nd edition, 1989.Entry "guaiacum"
in
Zygophyllaceae Zygophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants that contains the bean-caper and caltrop. The family includes around 285 species in 22 genera. Plants in the family Zygophyllaceae may be trees, shrubs, or herbs. They are often found in dry habit ...

) produce the hardest, heaviest, and most durable wood of the American tropics. Dead trees of ''Handroanthus guayacan'' remain standing after they were killed by flooding of their

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

during construction of the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

. The wood of ''Handroanthus'' brings a high

price A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in the ...

. The wood of other species is sometimes fraudulently sold as ''Handroanthus''. By 2007, FSC-certified ipê wood had become readily available on the market, although certificates are occasionally forged. Much of the ipê imported into the United States is used for decking. Starting in the late 1960s, importing companies targeted large

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of brid ...

projects to sell ipê, beginning with the

New York City Department of Parks and Recreation The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, also called the Parks Department or NYC Parks, is the department of the government of New York City responsible for maintaining the city's parks system, preserving and maintaining the ecolog ...

, which maintains the city's

boardwalk A boardwalk (alternatively board walk, boarded path, or promenade) is an elevated footpath, walkway, or causeway built with wooden planks that enables pedestrians to cross wet, fragile, or marshy land. They are also in effect a low type of brid ...

s, including along the

beach A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc sh ...

of Coney Island. The city began using ipê around that time and has since converted the entire boardwalk—over long—to ipê. The ipê lasted about 25 years, at which time (1994) the department began replacing it with new ipê. '' La Sultana'', a yacht refashioned from a Soviet spy vessel, was fitted with an ipê deck during its restoration.La Sultana Superyacht: The Spy Ship You Can Sunbathe On
Billionaire. 14 September 2015. Tara Loader Wilkinson. 24 December 2015. In 2008-2009,

Wildwood, New Jersey Wildwood is a city in Cape May County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Ocean City metropolitan statistical area and is a popular summer resort destination along the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's year-ro ...

, rebuilt a section of its boardwalk using ipê. The town had pledged to use domestic

black locust ''Robinia pseudoacacia'', commonly known in its native territory as black locust, is a medium-sized hardwood deciduous tree, belonging to the tribe Robinieae of the legume family Fabaceae. It is endemic to a few small areas of the United States ...

, but it was not available in time. Given that ipê trees typically grow in

densities Density (volumetric mass density or specific mass) is the substance's mass per unit of volume. The symbol most often used for density is ''ρ'' (the lower case Greek language, Greek letter Rho (letter), rho), although the Latin letter ''D'' ca ...

of only one or two trees per , large areas of

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

must be searched and cut down to create paths to harvest the trees to fill orders for boardwalks and to a lesser extent, homeowner decks. Medical claims for ''Handroanthus'' are numerous, but so far, have always originated from unreliable sources. For this reason, the extensive literature on this subject is not reviewed here. The bark of several species of ''Handroanthus'' is sold in South American markets. Similar-looking bark is often fraudulently passed off as ''Handroanthus''. It is used in various ways to relieve certain symptoms of certain

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

s. No evidence shows that it prevents the disease or slows its progression, as is often claimed. The bark is dried, shredded, and then boiled to make a bitter or sour-tasting brownish-colored tea. Tea from the inner bark of pink ipê (''

Handroanthus impetiginosus ''Handroanthus impetiginosus'', the pink ipê, pink lapacho or pink trumpet tree, is a tree in the family Bignoniaceae, distributed throughout North, Central and South America, from northern Mexico south to northern Argentina. It is the national ...

'') is known as pau d'arco,

lapacho Lapacho or taheebo is herbal tea made from the inner bark of the pau d'arco tree ''Handroanthus impetiginosus''. Lapacho is used in the herbal medicine of several South and Central American indigenous peoples to treat a number of ailments inclu ...

, or taheebo. Its main

active ingredient An active ingredient is any ingredient that provides biologically active or other direct effect in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease or to affect the structure or any function of the body of humans or animals. The ...

s are lapachol,

quercetin Quercetin is a plant flavonol from the flavonoid group of polyphenols. It is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, seeds, and grains; capers, red onions, and kale are common foods containing appreciable amounts of it. It has a bitter flavor ...

, and other

flavonoids Flavonoids (or bioflavonoids; from the Latin word ''flavus'', meaning yellow, their color in nature) are a class of polyphenolic secondary metabolites found in plants, and thus commonly consumed in the diets of humans. Chemically, flavonoids ...

. A

dehydrated In physiology, dehydration is a lack of total body water, with an accompanying disruption of metabolic processes. It occurs when free water loss exceeds free water intake, usually due to exercise, disease, or high environmental temperature. Mil ...

tea is also available in

pill Pill or The Pill may refer to: Drugs * Pill (pharmacy), referring to anything small for a specific dose of medicine * "The Pill", a general nickname for the combined oral contraceptive pill Film and television * ''The Pill'' (film), a 2011 fil ...

form. Taheebo has been used for years in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

to Therapy treat a number of

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

s including

Eczema Dermatitis is inflammation of the skin, typically characterized by itchiness, redness and a rash. In cases of short duration, there may be small blisters, while in long-term cases the skin may become thickened. The area of skin involved can ...

,

Candidiasis Candidiasis is a fungal infection due to any type of '' Candida'' (a type of yeast). When it affects the mouth, in some countries it is commonly called thrush. Signs and symptoms include white patches on the tongue or other areas of the mouth ...

, Fungal infections and even

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

. The worth and use of Taheebo extract has been related to the importance of

quinine Quinine is a medication used to treat malaria and babesiosis. This includes the treatment of malaria due to '' Plasmodium falciparum'' that is resistant to chloroquine when artesunate is not available. While sometimes used for nocturnal le ...

, which is taken from the bark of the South American Cinchona tree and is a medicinally accepted treatment for

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

. The herbal remedy is typically used during

flu Influenza, commonly known as "the flu", is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These symptom ...

and

cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

and for easing smoker's cough. It apparently works as an

expectorant Mucoactive agents are a class of chemical agents that aid in the clearance of mucus or sputum from the upper and lower airways, including the lungs, bronchi, and trachea. Mucoactive drugs include expectorants, mucolytics, mucoregulators, and muco ...

, by promoting the lungs to cough up and free deeply embedded

mucus Mucus ( ) is a slippery aqueous secretion produced by, and covering, mucous membranes. It is typically produced from cells found in mucous glands, although it may also originate from mixed glands, which contain both serous and mucous cells. It ...

and contaminants. However, lapachol is rather

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subs ...

and therefore a more

topical A topical medication is a medication that is applied to a particular place on or in the body. Most often topical medication means application to body surfaces such as the skin or mucous membranes to treat ailments via a large range of classes ...

use e.g. as antibiotic or pesticide may be advisable. Other species with significant folk medical use are '' Handroanthus albus'' and '' Handroanthus serratifolius''. '' Handroanthus ochraceus'' ( synonym: ''Tabebuia heteropoda''), '' Handroanthus incanus'', and other species are occasionally used as an

additive Additive may refer to: Mathematics * Additive function, a function in number theory * Additive map, a function that preserves the addition operation * Additive set-functionn see Sigma additivity * Additive category, a preadditive category with f ...

to the

entheogen Entheogens are psychoactive substances that induce alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, or behavior for the purposes of engendering spiritual development or otherwiseRätsch, Christian, ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoac ...

ic drink

Ayahuasca AyahuascaPronounced as in the UK and in the US. Also occasionally known in English as ''ayaguasca'' ( Spanish-derived), ''aioasca'' (Brazilian Portuguese-derived), or as ''yagé'', pronounced or . Etymologically, all forms but ''yagé'' desce ...

.Jonathan Ott. 1995. In: Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangaean Entheogens.

Ecology

The nectar of ''Handroanthus'' flowers is an important food source for several species of bees and hummingbirds. '' Mycosphaerella tabebuiae'', a

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

pathogenic

sac fungus Ascomycota is a phylum of the kingdom Fungi that, together with the Basidiomycota, forms the subkingdom Dikarya. Its members are commonly known as the sac fungi or ascomycetes. It is the largest phylum of Fungi, with over 64,000 species. The de ...

was first discovered on a ''Handroanthus'' tree, known at that time as ''Tabebuia''. The

taxonomy Taxonomy is the practice and science of categorization or classification. A taxonomy (or taxonomical classification) is a scheme of classification, especially a hierarchical classification, in which things are organized into groups or types. ...

of

Mycosphaerella ''Mycosphaerella'' is a genus of ascomycota. With more than 10,000 species, it is the largest genus of plant pathogen fungi. The following introduction about the fungal genus ''Mycosphaerella'' is copied (with permission) from the dissertation o ...

is in much confusion and the recognition of this name is questionable.

Symbolism

Because of its popularity, ''Handroanthus'' has often been adopted as a symbol or

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often us ...

for

nations A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective identity of a group of people understood as defined by t ...

or other

political division Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

s. The distinction between national flower and

national tree This is a list of national trees, most official, but some unofficial. National trees See also * National emblem * Floral emblem * List of U.S. State and territory trees References {{DEFAULTSORT:List Of National Trees N Trees In ...

is sometimes not entirely clear. Gentry (1992) gives the following information without making that distinction. *

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

- ''Handroanthus serratifolius'' *

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

- ''Handroanthus chrysanthus'' *

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

- ''Handroanthus heptaphyllus'' *

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

- ''Handroanthus billbergii''

History

The genus ''Handroanthus'' was erected 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. It was named for the Brazilian botanist Oswaldo Handro. "Anthus" is derived from a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word for "flower". Most botanists at that time did not agree with the separation of ''Handroanthus'' from ''Tabebuia''. Alwyn H. Gentry objected strenuously 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 full taxonomic treatment of ''Tabebuia'', in which he described 99 species and one

hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

for the genus. These consist of the 67 species and one hybrid that remain in ''Tabebuia'', the two species transferred to '' Roseodendron'', and the 30 species that are now placed in ''Handroanthus''. Gentry divided ''Tabebuia'' into 10 species groups. ''Handroanthus'', as it is currently circumscribed, is composed of Gentry's groups 3, 4, and 5. Gentry believed group 5 to be

natural Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

, while groups 3 and 4 were artificial, designated for the sole purpose of easier identification. In 2007, a molecular phylogenetic study resolved ''Tabebuia'' as consisting of three strongly supported clades, none of which was

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

to either of the others. Thus ''Tabebuia'' was shown to be

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of conver ...

. One of these clades consisted of the two species that constitute the genus '' Roseodendron''. Another contained the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specime ...

for ''Tabebuia'', and consequently retained that name. The name ''Handroanthus'' was resurrected for the third clade, which contained its type species, '' Handroanthus albus''. ''Handroanthus'' is sister to a clade consisting of '' Spirotecoma'', '' Parmentiera'', ''

Crescentia ''Crescentia'' (calabash tree, huingo, krabasi, or kalebas) is a genus of six species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to southern North America, the Caribbean, Central America northern South America. The species are mode ...

'', and '' Amphitecna''. It had for a long time been placed in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

Tecomeae, but that tribe has been greatly reduced to only 11 or 12 genera and no longer includes ''Handroanthus''. ''Handroanthus'' is one of the 12 to 14 genera that make up a

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...

informally known as the ''Tabebuia'' alliance.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. This group has not been assigned to any

taxonomic rank In biological classification, taxonomic rank is the relative level of a group of organisms (a taxon) in an ancestral or hereditary hierarchy. A common system consists of species, genus, family, order, class, phylum, kingdom, domain. While ...

, and neither has Crescentiina, the smallest group that it is a member of.

Cladistic Cladistics (; ) is an approach to biological classification in which organisms are categorized in groups ("clades") based on hypotheses of most recent common ancestry. The evidence for hypothesized relationships is typically shared derived char ...

analysis of DNA data has strongly supported ''Handroanthus'', but sampling of taxa and DNA has not been sufficient to strongly support any relationships within the genus.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5647550 Bignoniaceae genera