Tabebuia capitata (Bureau & K.Schum.) 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. Amazonas: Tefe, Poeppig 138 (B*, lectotype, K; isotypes, F, W).
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Synonyms
Tecoma leucoxylon, Tecoma capitata Bureau & K.Schum., Tabebuia glomerata Urb., Tabebuia hypolepra Sprague & Sandwith, Handroanthus capitatus (Bureau ex K.Schum.) Mattos
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Description
Species Description - Tree to 40 m tall, the branchlets subterete to subtetragonal, stellate-pubescent when young. Leaves palmately 5-foliolate, the leaflets elliptic to narrowly ovate-elliptic, acuminate, rounded at base, the terminal leaflet to 14.5 cm long and 6 cm wide, the lateral leaflets smaller, entire, chartaceous, stellate-puberulous along midvein above and in the axils of the lateral veins and sometimes sparsely along the secondary veins and/or over the surface below, lepidote punctate above and especially below, drying greenish to blackish; petiolules to 2.5 cm long, the petiole to 7 cm long, somewhat stellate-pubescent in the adaxial groove. Inflorescence a multiflowered panicle, usually reduced and almost fasciculate, the branches yellowish-brown stellate-tomentose. Calyx campanulate, irregularly lobate, 8-12 mm long, 6-11 mm wide, conspicuously pubescent with thick-stellate yellowish-brown trichomes; corolla yellow, tubular-infundibuliform, 4.5-7 cm long, 1-1.8 cm wide at mouth of tube, the tube 3-5 cm long, the lobes 1-2 cm long, glabrous outside, the lobes not at all or inconspicuously ciliate, minutely glandular-lepidote, the throat pilose inside with long (to 1 mm) twisted trichomes, mostly near mouth, villous at stamen insertion; stamens didynamous, the thecae divaricate, 2-2.5 mm long; pistil 2-2.1 cm long, the ovary linear-oblong, 2-2.5 mm long, 1 mm wide, densely lepidote, sometimes also somewhat minutely stellate-puberulous, the surface smooth, not verrucose, the ovules multiseriate in each locule; disk cupular, 5-lobed, 0.5 mm long, 1.5 mm wide. Fruit a linear capsule, to 31 (-50) cm long, 1.5-1.7 cm wide, acuminate, the valves narrow, more or less scattered-lepidote, usually with scattered stellate trichomes, sometimes subglabrescent, longitudinally finely striate; seeds thin, bialate, 0.7-0.8 cm long, 1.7-2.4 cm wide, the wings hyaline-membranaceous, sharply demarcated from seed body.
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Discussion
Closely related to mostly allopatric T. chrysantha, a highly variable species of Central America and western South America, and perhaps not adequately differentiated for specific recognition. This species is essentially the Amazonian-Guayanan replacement of T. chrysantha from which it is usually separable by the impressed-lepidote scales on the leaflet undersurface and also by the generally less dense indumentum. In T. chrysantha there are always stellate trichomes along the main veins below and usually at least sparsely over the leaf undersurface, while in T. capitata the trichomes are mostly restricted to the nerve axils below and, when also occurring along the main nerves, are shorter and macroscopically less evident. The ranges of T. capitata and T. chrysantha overlap in western Amazonia. Where the ranges of the two species overlap in Peru, T. capitata appears to occur mostly on highly leached lateritic soils and T. chrysantha mostly on relatively rich alluvial soils. In this same region, T. obscura, vegetatively intermediate between T. chrysantha and T. capitata, also occurs but is usually restricted to the poorest sandy soils. In the Guayana area T. capitata can be confused with glabrescent forms of T. subtilis (where see discussion), but that species occurs only at elevations of over 500 m. At the other, glabrescent, extreme, Tabebuia capitata is also close to T. guayacan and T. serratifolia, differing from both in having at least a few stellate trichomes along the leaflet midvein rather than having the pubescence entirely restricted to axils of lateral nerves below.
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Common Names
lisière de la forêt, araui-ye, araguaney, araguaney puy, canaguate bianco, pau d’arco, pau-d’arco-amarelo, pau d’arco preto, pau d’arco tatajipoca, tahuari, comesebo negro
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Distribution
Mostly in the Guianas and Guayanan Amazonia, southwest through much of the Amazon basin to Peru and northern Bolivia; in well-drained upland forests usually on rather poor soils; near sea level to 500 m.
Acre Brazil South America| Amapá Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America| Maranhão Brazil South America| Pará Brazil South America| Rondônia Brazil South America| Roraima Brazil South America| French Guiana South America| Guyana South America| Amazonas Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| Madre de Dios Peru South America| Pasco Peru South America| Ucayali Peru South America| Suriname South America| Amazonas Venezuela South America| Bolívar Venezuela South America| Delta Amacuro Venezuela South America|