Tabebuia

Taxobox
name = "Tabebuia"

---

image_width = 200px
image_caption = Flowering Araguaney or "ipê-amarelo" ("Tabebuia chrysantha") in central Brazil
regnum = Plantae
divisio = Magnoliophyta
classis = Magnoliopsida
subclassis = Asteridae
unranked_ordo = Euasterids I
ordo = Lamiales
familia = Bignoniaceae
tribus = Tecomeae
genus = "Tabebuia"
genus_authority = Gomez
subdivision_ranks = Species
subdivision = Nearly 100, see text

"Tabebuia" is a neotropical genus of about 100 speciesSteyermark "et al." (1997)] in the tribe Tecomeae of the family Bignoniaceae. The species range from northern Mexico and the Antilles south to northern Argentina, including the Caribbean islands of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Cuba. Well-known common names include Ipê, Poui, trumpet trees and "pau d'arco".

Description

They are large shrubs and trees growing to 5 to 50 m (16 to 160 ft) tall depending on the species; many species are dry-season deciduous but some are evergreen. The leaves are opposite pairs, complex or palmately compound with 3-7 leaflets.

"Tabebuia" is a notable flowering tree. The flowers are 3 to 11 cm (1 to 4 in) wide and are produced in dense clusters. They present a cupular calyx campanulate to tubular, truncate, bilabiate or 5-lobed. Corolla colors vary between species ranging from white, light pink, yellow, lavender, magenta, or red. The outside texture of the flower tube is either glabrous or pubescent.

The fruit is a dehiscent pod, 10 to 50 cm (4 to 20 in) long, containing numerous - in some species winged - seeds. These pods often remain on the tree through dry season until the beginning of the rainy season.

Uses and ecology

Species in this genus are important as timber trees. The wood is used for furniture, decking, and other outdoor uses. It has a fire rating of A1 (the highest possible, the same as concrete), [Wood Addicts' Guide Book: [http://www.woodsthebest.com/ipe_decking/ipe-wood.htm Ipe Lumber Fact Sheet] . Retrieved 2008-JAN-27.] and is denser than water (it sinks). It is increasingly popular as a decking material due to its insect resistance and durability. By 2007, FSC-certified ipê wood had become readily available on the market, although certificates are occasionally forged. [FSC Watch: [http://www.fsc-watch.org/archives/2007/08/22/SmartWood_misled_US_local_authority_over_FSC_timber SmartWood misled US local authority over FSC timber] . Posted 2007-AUG-22. Retrieved 2008-JAN-27.]

"Tabebuia" is widely used as ornamental tree in the tropics in landscaping gardens, public squares and boulevards due to its impressive and colorful flowering. Many flowers appear on still leafless stems at the end of the dry season, making the floral display more conspicuous. They are useful as honey plants for bees, and are popular with certain hummingbirds. [Baza Mendonça & dos Anjos (2005)] Naturalist Madhaviah Krishnan on the other hand once famously took offense at ipé grown in India, where it is not native.

The bark of several species has medical properties. The bark is dried, shredded and then boiled making a bitter or sour-tasting brownish-colored tea. Tea from the inner bark of Pink Ipê ("T. impetiginosa") is known as Lapacho or Taheebo. Its main active principles are lapachol, quercetin and other flavonoids. It is also available in pill form. The herbal remedy is typically used during flu and cold season and for easing smoker's cough. It apparently works as expectorant, by promoting the lungs to cough up and free deeply embedded mucus and contaminants. However, lapachol is rather toxic and therefore a more topical use e.g. as antibiotic or pesticide may be advisable. Other species with significant folk medical use are "T. alba" and Yellow Lapacho ("T. serratifolia").

"Tabebuia heteropoda, T. incana" and other species are occasionally used as an additive to the entheogenic drink Ayahuasca. [Ott (1995)]

"Mycosphaerella tabebuiae", a plant pathogenic sac fungus, was first discovered on an ipê tree.

Conservation concerns

The demand for ipê wood has risen dramatically in recent years, especially in the United States. By the 1990s, numerous environmental organizations working on preservation of the Amazon Rainforest reported that about 80% of logging in the Brazilian Amazon was illegal. The Brazilian government has confirmed this figure, most notably in a leaked report from the Brazilian Intelligence Agency, in which it was confirmed that five times the amount of wood sanctioned to be cut from legal Amazon concessions was being exported and that numerous staff of the environment agency IBAMA were taking bribes. [SAE (1997)]

In an October 2001 study for Greenpeace, five companies were reported to be logging illegally for ipê and other hardwoods in the region around Santarém, Pará: Cemex Commercial Madeiras Exportaçao, Madeireira Santarém (Madesa), Industrial Madeireira Curuatinga, Maderieira Rancho da Cabocla and Estância Alecrim/Milton José Schnorr. The bulk of their illegal timber exports from that region went to The Netherlands and France. [Marquesini & Edwards (2001)]

Much of the ipê imported into the US is used for decking. Starting in the late 1960s, importing companies targeted large boardwalk projects to sell ipê, beginning with New York City Parks and Recreation ("Parks") which maintains the city's boardwalks, including along the beach of Coney Island. The city began using ipê around that time and has since converted the entire boardwalk — over 10 miles (16 km) long — to ipê. The ipê lasted about 25 years, at which time (1994), Parks has been replacing it with new ipê. Given that ipê trees typically grow in densities of only one or two trees per acre, large areas of forest must be logged to fill orders for boardwalks and, to a lesser extent, homeowner decks.

A 1998 study for Rainforest Relief stated that at one time average yields were 76 board feet per acre (44 m³/km²) of FEQ (first export quality — FAS four-side-clear) grade ipê over seven feet (2.1 m) in length. Typically, wooden boardwalks are composed of 30,000 to 40,000 board feet (70 to 90 m³) per city block. For New York City's 10 miles (16 km) of boardwalk, this would yield an estimate of 83,360 acres (337 km²) of Amazon rainforest logged. [Keating (1998)]

Nowadays, ipé wood from cultivated trees supersedes timber extracted from the wild. As noted above, customers should check for legitimacy of certificates.

Notable species

[
Pink Ipê ("Tabebuia impetiginosa") in detail]
* "Tabebuia alba"
* "Tabebuia anafensis"
* "Tabebuia arimaoensis"
* "Tabebuia aurea" – Caribbean Trumpet Tree
* "Tabebuia bibracteolata"
* "Tabebuia cassinoides"
* "Tabebuia chrysantha" – Araguaney, Yellow Ipê, "tajibo" (Bolivia), "ipê-amarelo" (Brazil), "cañaguate" (N Colombia)
* "Tabebuia chrysotricha" – Golden Trumpet Tree
* "Tabebuia donnell-smithii" Rose – Gold Tree, "Prima Vera", "Cortez blanco" (El Salvador), "San Juan" (Honduras), "palo blanco" (Guatemala),"duranga" (Mexico):A native of Mexico and Central Americas, considered one of the most colorful of all Central American trees. The leaves are deciduous. Masses of golden-yellow flowers cover the crown after the leaves are shed.
* "Tabebuia dubia"
* "Tabebuia ecuadorensis"
* "Tabebuia elongata"
* "Tabebuia furfuracea"
* "Tabebuia geminiflora" Rizz. & Mattos
* "Tabebuia guayacan" (Seem.) Hemsl.
* "Tabebuia haemantha"
* "Tabebuia heptaphylla" (Vell.) Toledo – "tajy"
* "Tabebuia heterophylla" – "roble prieto"
* "Tabebuia heteropoda"
* "Tabebuia hypoleuca"
* "Tabebuia impetiginosa" – Pink Ipê, Pink Lapacho, "ipê-cavatã, ipê-comum, ipê-reto, ipê-rosa, ipê-roxo-damata, pau d'arco-roxo, peúva, piúva" (Brazil), "lapacho negro" (Spanish); "not" "brazilwood"
* "Tabebuia incana"
* "Tabebuia jackiana"
* "Tabebuia lapacho" – "lapacho amarillo"
* "Tabebuia orinocensis" A.H. GentryVerify source|date=January 2008
* "Tabebuia ochracea"
* "Tabebuia oligolepis"
* "Tabebuia pallida" – Cuban Pink Trumpet Tree
* "Tabebuia platyantha"
* "Tabebuia polymorpha"
* "Tabebuia rosea" (Bertol.) DC.Verify source|date=January 2008 (= "T. pentaphylla" (L.) Hemsley) – Pink Poui, Pink Tecoma, "apama, apamate, matilisguate" :A popular street tree in tropical cities because of its multi-annular masses of light pink flowers and modest size. The roots are not especially destructive for roads and sidewalks. It is the state tree of Cojedes, Venezuela
* "Tabebuia roseo-alba" – White Ipê, "ipê-branco" (Brazil), "lapacho blanco"
* "Tabebuia serratifolia" – Yellow Lapacho, Yellow Poui, "ipê-roxo" (Brazil)
* "Tabebuia shaferi"
* "Tabebuia striata"
* "Tabebuia subtilis" Sprague & Sandwith
* "Tabebuia umbellata"
* "Tabebuia vellosoi" Toledo

Gallery of "Tabebuia" flowers

Gallery of Tabebuia pallida

Footnotes

References

* (2005): Beija-flores (Aves, Trochilidae) e seus recursos florais em uma área urbana do Sul do Brasil [Hummingbirds (Aves, Trochilidae) and their flowers in an urban area of southern Brazil] . [Portuguese with English abstract] "Revista Brasileira de Zoologia" 22(1): 51–59. doi|10.1590/S0101-81752005000100007 [http://www.scielo.br/pdf/rbzool/v22n1/a07v22n1.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1992): "t". Macmillan.
* (1998): Deep Impact: An Estimate of Tropical Rainforest Acres Impacted for a Board Foot of Imported Ipê. "Rainforest Relief Reports" 6: 1-4. [http://www.rainforestrelief.org/documents/Deep_Impact_2.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1992): "Árvores brasileiras: manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas nativas do Brasil."
* (2001): The Santarem Five and Illegal Logging — A Case Study. [http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/international/press/reports/the-santarem-five-illegal-hi.pdf PDF fulltext]
* (1995): [http://www.serendipity.li/dmt/hoasca.html#tbl1 Ayahuasca Additive Plants] . "In: Ayahuasca Analogues: Pangaean Entheogens".
* (1997): Política Florestal: Exploração Madeireira na Amazônica. Confidential report.
* (1997): 35. "Tababuia". "In: Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana" (Vol. 3 Araliaceae-Cactaceae). ISBN 0-915279-46-0 [http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/ven-guayana/ HTML fulltext]
* (2007a): Germplasm Resources Information Network - [http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?11823 "Tabebuia"] . Retrieved 2007-NOV-14.

External links

* [http://www.paudarco.org Pau d'Arco Benefits and Cautions Explained]
* [http://www.rainforestrelief.org/Campaigns/New_York_City_s_Rainforest_Wood.html New York City's use of tropical hardwoods]