Tabebuia lepidophylla (A.Rich.) Greenm. ex Combs

  • Authority

    Gentry, Alwyn H. 1992. Bignoniaceae--part II (Tribe Tecomeae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 25: 1-370. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Bignoniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Tabebuia lepidophylla (A.Rich.) Greenm. ex Combs

  • Type

    Type. Cuba. Isla de Juventud (Isle of Pines), Lanier s.n. (not seen). Type illustration, A. Richard, Hist. Cuba t. 59.

  • Synonyms

    Bignonia lepidophylla A.Rich., Tecoma lepidophylla (A.Rich.) Griseb.

  • Description

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    Species Description - Shrub or small tree 0.3-3 m tall, the leaves somewhat clustered toward branch apices, the branchlets ridged below leaves, more or less triangular in cross section, subterete with raised leaf scars when older. Leaves simple, in whorls of three, obovate to elliptic or oblanceolate, abruptly apiculate at apex (typically ± truncate except the apicule, sometimes emarginate with a down-curved apicule), cuneate to rounded at base, 2-8.5 cm long, 0.8-4 cm wide, thick coriaceous, densely tannish lepidote below, less densely lepidote and brown or olive brown above, the secondary veins not evident to slightly prominulous below, with conspicuous glands near base of midvein below, the margin usually slightly involute, more or less serrulate toward apex; petioles 0.3-1.5 cm long. Inflorescence a single terminal flower or terminal fascicle of 2-5 flowers, the pedicels 0.3-1.8 cm long. Flowers with the calyx infundibuliform, irregularly 2-3-labiate, 10-16 mm long, 7-10 mm wide, drying dark but appearing tannish from the dense covering of large and small brownish lepidote scales outside, also lepidote inside; corolla white (usually) or pinkish, tubu-lar-infundibuliform, 3.5-6 cm long, 1-2 cm wide at mouth of tube, the tube 2.5-4 cm long, the lobes 0.5-1.5 cm long, lepidote with scattered large glandular scales outside, the lobes more or less ciliate with crisped multicellular trichomes, lobes puberulous to glabrous inside, the tube pilose in floor and at level of stamen insertion; anthers 3 mm long; ovary linear-oblong, densely tannish lepidote, 3 mm long, 1 mm wide; disk annular-pulvinate, 1 mm long, 2-3 mm wide. Fruit linear-cylindric, 6-13 cm long, 0.6-0.8 cm wide, densely lepidote, longitudinally ribbed, subtended by the persistent calyx; seeds thin, bialate, 5-7 mm long, 17-35 mm wide, the hyaline-membranaceous wings sharply demarcated from the seed body.

  • Distribution

    Pine savannas of western Cuba, mostly below 100 m elevation.

    Isla de la Juventud Cuba South America| Piñar del Río Cuba South America|