Tabebuia serratifolia (Vahl) Nichols

  • Authority

    Gentry, Alwyn H. 1992. Bignoniaceae--part II (Tribe Tecomeae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 25: 1-370. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Bignoniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Tabebuia serratifolia (Vahl) Nichols

  • Type

    Type. Trinidad. Ryan 11 (C).

  • Synonyms

    Bignonia serratifolia Vahl, Bignonia flavescens Vell., Bignonia araliacea Cham., Tecoma serratifolia (Vahl) G.Don, Tecoma araliacea (Cham.) DC., Tecoma conspicua DC., Bignonia conspicua Rich. ex DC., Tecoma flavescens Mart. ex DC., Tecoma patrisiana DC., Tecoma speciosa DC. ex Mart., Tecoma nigricans Klotzsch, Tabebuia araliacea (Cham.) Morong & Britton, Tecoma atractocarpa Bureau & K.Schum., Gelseminum araliaceum (Cham.) Kuntze, Gelseminum speciosum (A.DC.) Kuntze, Tabebuia monticola Pittier, Handroanthus araliaceus (Cham.) Mattos, Handroanthus flavescens (Vell.) Mattos, Handroanthus atractocarpus (Bureau & K.Schum.) Mattos

  • Description

    Species Description - Tree to 30 m tall, the branchlets terete, glabrate or inconspicuously puberulous at extreme tip. Leaves palmately 5-7-foliolate, the leaflets elliptic to narrowly elliptic-ovate, acuminate, the base rounded, the terminal leaflet to 18 cm long and 7 cm wide, lateral leaflets smaller, entire to conspicuously serrate, chartaceous, inconspicuously lepidote, otherwise mostly glabrous when mature, sometimes with a few inconspicuous simple trichomes at base of midvein above, with noticeable simple trichomes in the axils of lateral nerves beneath, these often fringing well-developed domatia (in cerrado sometimes softly simple puberulous over whole undersurface), more or less stellate or substellate-pubescent only when very young, drying gray to olive; petiolules to 5 cm long, petiole to 10 cm long, usually more or less puberulous at least adaxially. Inflorescence a usually many-flowered corymbose panicle, its branches tomentose with simple, forked and stellate trichomes. Flowers with the calyx campanulate, shallowly 3-5-lobed, (5-)8-l1(-16) mm long, (5-)6-11(-14) mm wide, sparsely pubescent with scattered simple and thick-stellate trichomes; corolla yellow, tubular-infundibuliform, 8-12 cm long, 2-3.5 cm wide at mouth of tube, the tube 6-9 cm long, the lobes 2-3 cm long, glabrous outside, the lobes usually somewhat ciliate, the throat weakly pilose within with long (to 0.8 mm) flexuous trichomes, mostly along throat ridges (sometimes completely glabrous in cerrado population), pubescent at level of stamen insertion; stamens didynamous, the anther thecae divaricate, 3 mm long; pistil 3.5-4 cm long, the ovary linear-oblong, 4 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, warty-roughened and glandular warty especially toward apex, often scattered-lepidote or with a few stellate trichomes, the ovules many-seriate in each locule; disk pulvinate, 1 mm long, 2.5 mm wide. Fruit a linear capsule, (8-)12-60 cm long, 1.6-2.4 cm wide, more or less glabrate, usually with a few widely scattered lepidote trichomes and sometimes a very few simple or stellate ones, the valves thick, subwoody, smooth or with a few scattered warty lumps; seeds bialate, 0.8-1.1 cm long, 2.4-3.5 cm wide, the wings hyaline-membranaceous in outer half, brownish at base, sharply demarcated from darker seed body.

  • Discussion

    This is a very widespread and variable species. Although it does not extend into the trans-Andean region or Central America, T. guayacan is essentially an allopatric replacement (see discussion under that species). In southern Brazil this species is extremely variable. I here recognize the two most extreme forms as T. riodocensis and T. pumila (where see discussion).

    The most extreme forms retained in T. serratifolia occur in the cerrado around Brasilia. In some plants the corolla throat is completely glabrous inside (except for glandular trichomes at stamen insertion), the calyx is unusually small (as short as 5 mm long), and the leaflets softly pilose below with simple trichomes. Elsewhere in the genus, the presence or absence of trichomes in the corolla throat (and to a lesser extent the leaflet undersurface) is a character warranting specific separation, but in the cerrado this seems to represent merely intrapopulational individual variation. Some individuals are intermediate with very sparsely pilose throats or leaves; moreover the variation in leaf and corolla throat pubescence does not seem to be correlated (although this is difficult to evaluate since there are very few collections of leaves). Tecoma atractocarpa represents the hairy-leaved cerrado form of T. serratifolia (e.g., Gentry 21376). All diagnostic features (e.g., crenulate leaflet margins, softly puberulous below with simple trichomes, fugaceous calyx tomentum, lepidote capsule) agree with this form of T. serratifolia. However, should taxonomic recognition be desired for the glabrous-throated cerrado plant, the epithet “atractocarpa” cannot be used. Although I have not dissected a corolla of the type specimen, Tecoma atractocarpa is clearly described as having the throat pilose. The cerrado population of T. serratifolia presents an interesting parallel to T. uleana of the southern Venezuelan “lajas.” In the latter case a glabrous corolla throat and strongly pilose leaf undersurface seem to be correlated in an ecologically differentiated segregate that I recognize as a distinct species, T. uleana; in the cerrado exactly the same variation occurs but appears to be without ecological or taxonomic significance. This species is the national tree of Brazil and the emblem of the Brazilian Botanical Society (Pabst, pers. comm.; Gentry et al., 1984). For a discussion of its confusion with T. vellosoi see that species.

  • Common Names

    cachovenado, araguaney, vero, flor amarillo, araguaney pui, chacaradanga, acapro, puy, araguaney acapro, koone, ipe, ipe-amarelo, ipe do campo, ipeuva, pao d’arco amarelo, ipe ovo de macuco

  • Distribution

    Colombia to Bolivia, the Guianas, and southeastern Brazil. Ecologically diverse, especially in the Brazilian mata atlantica; in Amazonia mostly occurring in more or less seasonal forests on well-drained lateritic soils, but in sub-Amazonian Brazil also occurring on richer or sandy soils and even into the cerrado; near sea level to 1200 m elevation.

    Beni Bolivia South America| La Paz Bolivia South America| Pando Bolivia South America| Acre Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Ceará Brazil South America| Distrito Federal Brazil South America| Espirito Santo Brazil South America| Goiás Brazil South America| Maranhão Brazil South America| Mato Grosso Brazil South America| Minas Gerais Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Paraná Brazil South America| Pernambuco Brazil South America| Piauí Brazil South America| Rio de Janeiro Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America| São Paulo Brazil South America| Sergipe Brazil South America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Antioquia Colombia South America| Caldas Colombia South America| Cundinamarca Colombia South America| Guainía Colombia South America| Norte de Santander Colombia South America| Santander Colombia South America| Vichada Colombia South America| Morona-Santiago Ecuador South America| French Guiana South America| Guyana South America| Amazonas Peru South America| Huánuco Peru South America| Junín Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Madre de Dios Peru South America| Pasco Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| Ucayali Peru South America| Suriname South America| Trinidad and Tobago South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Anzoátegui Venezuela South America| Apure Venezuela South America| Barinas Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Carabobo Venezuela South America| Distrito Federal Venezuela South America| Mérida Venezuela South America| Miranda Venezuela South America| Sucre Venezuela South America| Táchira Venezuela South America| Trujillo Venezuela South America| Yaracuy Venezuela South America| Zulia Venezuela South America| Santa Cruz Bolivia South America|