Tabebuia elliptica (DC.) Sandwith
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Authority
Gentry, Alwyn H. 1992. Bignoniaceae--part II (Tribe Tecomeae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 25: 1-370. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Bignoniaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. Brazil. Sellow s.n. (B*, lectotype, K; isotype, HBG), non B. elliptica Thunberg, Pl. bras. decas 3(26): 34. 1821 which = Ruellia macrantha.
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Synonyms
Bignonia elliptica Thunb., Tecoma elliptica DC., Sparattosperma psammophilum Mart. ex DC., Tecoma atrovirens DC., Sparattosperma ellipticum (DC.) Bureau & K.Schum., Tabebuia atrovirens (DC.) Standl.
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Description
Species Description - Shrub to medium-size tree 2-20 m tall, the twigs terete to subtetragonal, lepidote, rather thick, the cortex usually smooth and drying a slightly reddish gray with constrasting large white lenticels. Leaves palmately (3-)5-foliolate, the leaflets oblong-elliptic to oblong-ovate, acute to short-acuminate at apex, rounded to truncate or subcordate at base, the terminal leaflet 4-18 cm long, 2-9.5 cm wide, lateral leaflets progressively smaller, entire, coriaceous to subcoriaceous, usually densely lepidote above and below, below also usually with scattered reddish scales as well as the dense more or less overlapping whitish ones, occasionally (Spada 87) densely pilose with simple trichomes over whole surface below; terminal petiolule 0.5-5.5 cm long, the laterals shorter, the petiole 2.5-18 cm long, densely lepidote, also minutely and inconspicuously puberulous adaxially. Inflorescence a rather open (occasionally contracted) panicle, usually terminal from a branch dichotomy, lepidote, sometimes also slightly minutely puberulous, drying dark, the pedicels mostly 1-3 cm long, the bracts and bracteoles small, subulate, caducous. Flowers with the calyx tubular-campanulate, usually irregularly bilabiate, splitting to near middle, sometimes unevenly 3-5-lobed, the lobes usually apic-ulately acuminate, 15-25 mm long, 8-16 mm wide, membranaceous, densely lepidote outside, less so inside, the lobe margins more or less pilose, usually densely pilose at least at apex and less so on inside of teeth; corolla white with yellow throat, tubular-infundibuliform, 4.5-8 cm long, the tube 3.5-6 cm long and 1.5-3 cm wide at mouth of tube, the lobes 1-2 cm long, glabrous outside or with a very few lepidote glands, the lobes slightly or not at all ciliate, inside sparsely pilose with thin weak trichomes on throat ridges, densely glandular-pilose at level of stamen insertion; stamens didynamous, the thecae divaricate, 4 mm long; pistil 2.5-4 cm long, the ovary linear, 6-7 mm long, 1 mm wide, densely lepidote; disk annular-pulvinate, 1 mm long, 3 mm wide. Fruit a linear-cylindric capsule, gradually tapering to the base and apex, 17-28 cm long, 0.5-0.6 cm wide, subtended by the persistent calyx, the valves coriaceous, finely longitudinally costate, densely lepidote, drying dark brown or blackish; seeds thin, bialate, 0.4-0.5 cm long, 1.8-2.4 cm wide, the wings hyaline-membranaceous, clearly demarcated from the seed body.
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Discussion
Intermediate between T. insignis, which it resembles in its dense lepidote indumentum and white flowers, and T. roseo-alba, which also has unusually narrow lepidote fruits and shares the noteworthy feature of pilose inner margins of the calyx. Important differentiating features from T. roseo-alba are the larger more membranaceous calyx and the 5-foliolate (rather than 3-foliolate) leaves.
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Common Names
pau d’arco, pau d’arco branco
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Objects
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Distribution
Endemic to the restingas of coastal Brazil from Paraiba and Pernambuco to Espírito Santo; near sea level.
Brazil South America| Bahia Brazil South America| Espirito Santo Brazil South America| Paraíba Brazil South America| Pernambuco Brazil South America|