''Tabebuia aurea'' is a species of '' Tabebuia'' native to South America in

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

, Brazil, eastern

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

, Peru, Paraguay, and northern Argentina. The common English name Caribbean trumpet tree is misleading, as it is not native to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. It is also known as the silver trumpet tree,Kepler, Angela Kay (1990)
''Trees of Hawai'i'', p. 7
Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. . and tree of gold.

Description

It is a small dry season- deciduous tree growing to 8 m tall. The

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

are palmately compound, with five or seven leaflets, each leaflet 6–18 cm long, green with silvery scales both above and below. The flowers are bright yellow, up to 6.5 cm diameter, produced several together in a loose

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

. The fruit is a slender 10 cm long capsule.Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan . ;Cultivation It is a popular

ornamental tree Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...

in subtropical and tropical regions, grown for its spectacular flower display on leafless shoots at the end of the dry season.

Ecology

This species presence in riparian areas of the Caatinga of northeastern Brazil is a crucial resource for Spix's macaw (''Cyanopsitta spixii''), which is

extinct in the wild A species that is extinct in the wild (EW) is one that has been categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as known only by living members kept in captivity or as a naturalized population outside its historic range due ...

with fewer than 100 birds remaining in captivity. Any future reintroduction would have to provide sufficient ''T. aurea'' for nesting and other purposes - while the tree is not considered threatened on a global scale, locally it has declined due to unsustainable use for timber and some other factors.

Description

Ecology

References

Further reading