Tabebuia glaucescens Urb.
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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. Cuba. Las Villas: Trinidad, Loma de Vigia, 29 Mar 1924 (fl, fr), Ekman 18906 (lectotype, S; isotypes, NY, HAC (as Ekman 18902)).
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Description
Species Description - Shrub, dichotomously branched, the branchlets terete, lepidote with both dark and light scales. Leaves 1-3-foliolate, the leaflets narrowly obovate to elliptic-oblong, more or less distinctly emarginate and with a minute apicule, cuneate to rounded at base, the terminal (or unifoliolate) 2.5-4.5 cm long, 0.8-2 cm wide, the basals 1-3 cm long, 0.5-1.3 cm wide, drying grayish olive above and below, rather thin coriaceous, densely whitish lepidote above and below, the secondary veins subplane above, conspicuously raised below, the margin distinctly erose; terminal petiolules to 0.3-0.5 mm long, the basal leaflets asymmetrically subsessile, the petioles 0.5-1 cm long. Inflorescence 2-5-flowered, openly dichotomous, lepidote with blackish scales. Flowers with calyx shallowly 2-3-labiate, 7-8 mm long, 4-5 mm wide, drying blackish, dark-lepidote; corolla pink, tubular-campanulate above the narrow base of tube, 3.5-4 cm long, 0.8-1 cm wide at mouth of tube, the tube ca. 3 cm long, the lobes ca. 0.8 cm long, scurfy puberulous in floor of tube, villous at stamen insertion, otherwise glabrous. Anthers held in upper half of tube, the thecae divaricate, 2.5 mm long; ovary linear, 4 mm long, 1 mm wide, densely blackish lepidote; disk annular pulvinate, 1 mm long, 2 mm wide. Fruit linear, 10-11 cm long, 5 mm wide, rather densely blackish lepidote, the calyx persistent; seeds thin, bialate, 3-4 mm long, 1.3-1.5 cm wide, the hyaline membranaceous wings sharply demarcated from the seed body.
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Discussion
In the absence of additional material it is difficult to evaluate T. glaucescens. It is conceivable that this could represent an extreme form of T. lepidota with thin-coriaceous leaflets with erose margins and mostly 3-4 mm long largely unifoliolate leaves, terminal petiolules on the 3-foliolate leaves and several-flowered inflorescences. It could also represent hybridization between T. lepidota and T. sauvallei which has similar inflorescences and leaflet margins and is common in the area. The fruit is among the narrowest and the seeds the smallest of any Tabebuia; it is possible that this small size could be associated with hybrid infertility, since the seeds rather resemble the small sterile seeds that often occur mixed with fertile seeds in the fruits of many species of Tabebuia.
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Objects
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Distribution
Known only from the type from Trinidad, Sancti Spiritus (Las Villas) Province, Cuba.
Cuba South America|