Tabebuia
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Authority
Maguire, Bassett. 1978. The botany of the Guayana Highland--part X. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 29: 1-288.
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Family
Bignoniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Discussion
23. Tabebuia Gomes ex de Candolle, Rev. Bign. (Bibl. Univ. Geneve) 14. 1838. Type. T. uliginosa (Gomes) DC. =T. cassinoides (Lam.) DC. Couralia Splitg., Tijdschr. Natuurl. Gesch. Physiol. 9: 14. 1842. Type. C. fluviatilis (Aubl.) Splitg. =Tabebuia aquatilis (E. Meyer) Sprague & Sandw. Handroanthus Mattos, Loefgrenia 50: 1. 1970. Type. H. albus (Cham.) Mattos =Tabebuia alba (Cham.) Sandw. Tabebuia is a well known genus of trees and shrubs characterized by the conspicuous precocious flowering of many of its species. It is the only upland Guayanan genus of Bignoniaceae with palmately compound leaves. The showy flowers are intermediate between "'Cydista-type'' and "'Anemopaegma-type'' and may be yellow, red, purple, or white. The fruit is linear and usually subterete. The genus occurs throughout tropical America from northern Mexico and the West Indies to Argentina. Five species are known to reach upland Guayana, although only T. subtilis is restricted to the highlands. See Part II.