Tabebuia

Tabebuia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae. Tabebuia consists almost entirely of trees, but a few are often large shrubs. A few species produce timber, but the genus is mostly known for those that are cultivated as flowering trees. The genus name is derived from the Tupi words for "ant" and "wood", referring to the fact that many Tabebuia species have twigs with soft pith which forms hollows within which ants live, defending the trees from other herbivores. The ants are attracted to the plants by special extra-floral nectar glands on at the apex of the petioles. The common name "roble" is sometimes found in English. Tabebuias have been called "trumpet trees", but this name is usually applied to other trees and has become a source of confusion and misidentification. Tabebuia is native to the American tropics and subtropics from Mexico and the Caribbean to Argentina. Most of the species known are from the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. It is commonly cultivated and often naturalized or adventive beyond its natural range. It easily escapes cultivation because of its numerous, air-borne seeds. In 1992, a revision of Tabebuia described 99 species and one hybrid. Phylogenetic studies of DNA sequences later showed that Tabebuia, as then circumscribed, was polyphyletic. In 2007, it was divided into three separate genera. Primavera (Roseodendron donnell-smithii) and a related species with no unique common name (Roseodendron chryseum) were transferred to Roseodendron. Those species known as ipê and pau d'arco (in Portuguese) or poui were transferred to Handroanthus. Sixty-seven species remained in Tabebuia. The former genus and polyphyletic group of 99 species described by Gentry in 1992 is now usually referred to as "Tabebuia sensu lato". All of the species in the first two columns below were recognized and described by Gentry in 1992. Listed in the third column are species names that have been used recently, but were not accepted by Gentry. The currently accepted synonym for each is in parentheses.