Tabebuia chrysotricha (Mart. ex DC.) Standl.
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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
Lectotype. Brazil. Rio de Janeiro: Santa Theresa, Guillemin 783 (G-DC).
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Synonyms
Tecoma ochracea var. denudata Cham., Tecoma flavescens Mart. ex DC., Tecoma chrysotricha Mart., Tecoma obtusata DC., Tecoma chrysotricha var. obtusata (DC.) Bureau & K.Schum., Tecoma pedicellata Bureau & K.Schum., Gelseminum chrysotrichum (Mart. ex DC.) Kuntze, Tecoma grandis Kraenzl., Tabebuia chrysotricha var. obtusata (DC.) Toledo, Handroanthus chrysotrichus (Mart. ex A.DC.) Mattos, Handroanthus chrysotrichus var. obtusata (DC.) Mattos, Handroanthus pedicellatus (Bureau & K.Schum.) Mattos
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Description
Species Description - Usually rather small tree 2-10 m tall, the branchlets subtetragonal to subterete, stellate-rufescent when young, more or less glabrescent. Leaves palmately (3-)5-foliolate, the leaflets oblong-obovate to oblong-elliptic, obtuse or rounded to abruptly cuspidate-subacuminate, basally obtuse to truncate, the terminal leaflet (1.5-)2-11 cm long, (l-)1.7-5.5 cm wide (to 15 x 9 cm in juveniles and in "intermediate" population discussed below), the laterals progressively smaller, entire or rarely slightly obtusely dentate near apex, membranaceous to chartaceous, lepidote above and below, above also glabrescently stellate-puberulous, below persistently stellate-puberulous with trichomes scattered over the clearly visible greenish to dark olive surface and denser on the thus tannish-drying main veins, always scabrous above and usually below; terminal petiolule 0.2-7(-8 in juveniles) cm long, the petiole 1-2.5 cm long, tannish or reddish stellate puberulous. Inflorescence a contracted rather few-flowered terminal cluster, peduncle essentially absent, flowers subsessile or with the pedicels to 5 mm long, reddish dendroid-pubescent. Flowers with the calyx more or less tubular, irregularly shallowly 5-lobed, (9-) 10-20 mm long, 5-10 mm wide, villous, reddish brown or reddish tan from the barbate to weakly dendroid trichomes, these to 2 mm long, also with shorter stellate trichomes; corolla yellow with reddish pencilling in throat, the venation of the lobes when dry inconspicuous and the lobes thus contrastingly lighter than the darker drying tube, tubular-infundibuliform, 4-7.5 cm long, 1.5-3 cm wide at mouth of tube, the tube 3.5-5.5 cm long, the lobes 0.5-1.5 cm long, almost always with some stellate trichomes along veins on outside of tube at least in upper half of lower side and sometimes on lobes, the sinuses and floor of throat pilose with rather long flat trichomes, also glandular-pubescent at stamen insertion; stamens didynamous, the thecae divergent, 2 mm long; pistil 2-2.7 cm long, the ovary conical-oblong, 3-4 mm long, ca. 1 mm wide, more or less lepidote near top; disk annular-pulvinate, 1 mm long, 2 mm wide. Fruit a linear-cylindric capsule, narrowing to base and apex, 11-38 cm long, 0.8-1.2 cm wide, usually reddish (occasionally golden-tannish) villous with barbate and sparsely dendroid 1-1.5 mm long trichomes, also with shorter stellate hairs and the bases of longer hairs usually more or less stellate; seeds 0.6-0.9 cm long, 1.7-2.9 cm wide, the wings hyaline-membranaceous, conspicuously demarcated from seed body.
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Discussion
This species is very close to T. ochracea and might well be treated as a distinctive subspecies of that taxon. It differs in the less dense indument of the undersurface of the usually smaller leaflets, the scabrous leaflet upper surface, the usually sessile or subsessile more narrowly tubular calyx with a redder, non-caducous indumentum of more barbate trichomes, the narrower capsule with more rufescent not at all caducous indumentum, and typically smaller stature. Some plants seem to be intermediate between T. chrysotricha and T. ochracea, especially in São Paulo and Santa Catarina, where typical T. ochracea occurs mostly in cerrado and cerrado remnants, typical T. chrysotricha on tops of rocky hills or morros and in coastal restingas, and the intermediate, assigned to T. chrysotricha by Sandwith and Hunt (1974) in disturbed forest edges and second growth. This intermediate, vegetatively characterized by the leaflets larger than in T. chrysotricha but usually similarly scabrous above, is also similar to plants found in southeastern and central Paraguay and in northwestern Argentina and adjacent Bolivia, and here tentatively referred to T. ochracea. This intermediate form is more like T. chrysantha ssp. chrysantha in its short reddish calyx indumentum and the corolla lobes usually with dark-drying venation. It is also similar vegetatively to that species which is most definitively differentiated by a much shorter fruit indumentum. Unfortunately, the fruits are unknown. Another problematic intermediate between T. ochracea and T. chrysotricha occurs at Linhares, Espírito Santo (Folli 660, Farias 145). It has leaves typical of T. chrysotricha, and calyx hairs red as in that species but longer than in other collections. The fruit is pubescent as in T. chrysotricha but longer and wider than in most other collections. This form also has the corolla lobes dark-veined when dry and is a larger tree (14-20 m) than normal for T. chrysotricha. Tecoma pedicellata was based on a mixed collection of T. chrysotricha (a few T. chrysotricha flowers are attached to the leafy branches at BR) with leafless flowering material of an otherwise undescribed species that proves to be locally common in the lowland forest remnants north of Rio de Janeiro. Tecoma grandis is only provisionally placed in the synonymy of this species, since I have not seen the type. Five Tabebuia species are known from Rio Grande do Sul, but three of these clearly do not fit the T. grandis protologue. Tabebuia chrysotricha, which is rare in Rio Grande do Sul, fits the protologue in such key features as a capitate multiflowered inflorescence with sessile flowers and a densely “vulpino-villosus” calyx 18 by 6-7 mm. While the reputed large tree stature of the Tecoma grandis type was emphasized by Kranzlin and is anomalous for T. chrysotricha, no actual dimensions were given and large individuals of T. chrysotricha might well be considered fairly large trees. On phytogeographic grounds T. pulcherrima, which is relatively common in the Porto Seguro area and can be a large tree, might be a more likely candidate, but that species does not have sessile flowers. The densely pilose gray green leaflet undersurface described for T. grandis would seem to accord better with T. chrysotricha than with the silvery tomentose leaf undersurface of T. pulcherrima. If Tecoma grandis applies to T. pulcherrima, its basionym would take precedence and a new combination would be needed in Tabebuia. Given the degree of uncertainty, I opt for assignment to T. chrysotricha, where no nomenclatural changes are needed.
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Common Names
ipe, ipe tabaco, pau mulato, ipe do morro, ipe-amarelo, aipe, pau-d’arco-amarelo
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Objects
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Distribution
Mata atlantica of coastal Brazil, mostly in coastal restingas; also in other kinds of open or shrubby forest, as on tops of morros and in disturbed forest, especially on sandy soils. Also widely planted as a small street tree; near sea level to 1000 m.
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