Tabebuia aurea

Tabebuia aurea (Silva Manso) Benth. & Hooker f. ex S. Moore

Common Names: Silver Trumpet Tree, Caribbean Trumpet Tree, Tree of Gold

Family: Bignoniaceae

Habit: Tabebuia aurea grows as a large shrub to small tree up to 10 meters in height with a corky bark.  The palmately compound leaves are arranged oppositely.  There are 5-7 leaflets that are oblong to oblanceolate, each up to 20 cm, with a rounded or retuse leaf apex and an entire leaf margin. The central leaflet is petiolate, others sessile.  The young stems and leaflets have silver-colored lepidote scales.

The complete, perfect, zygomorphic flowers are arranged solitarily or in clusters of 9-15. The calyx has 5 fused, greenish sepals.  The corolla has 5 bright yellow, fused petals.  There are 4 stamens fused to the corolla tube.  The superior ovary has 2 locules and forms a capsule at maturity.  The seeds are winged.

Habitat: Tabebuia aurea occurs in the Bahamas in Human Altered environments in the Bahamas (yards, gardens, roadsides).

Distribution: Tabebuia aurea is not native to the Lucayan Archipelago. It is native to the South America.

Medicinal/Cultural/Economic usage: Tabebuia aurea has is not known to be used medicinally in the Bahamas. 

It is grown as an ornamental and planted as a street tree.