Thursday 10 January 2013

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 27 - TECOMA

Tecoma stans is a species of flowering perennial shrub in the trumpet vine family, Bignoniaceae, that is native to the Americas. Common names include yellow trumpetbush, yellow bells, geelklokkies (Afrikaans), yellow elder, ginger-thomas, and esperanza (Spanish). Tecoma stans is the official flower of the United States Virgin Islands and the floral emblem of the Bahamas.

Yellow Trumpetbush is an attractive plant that is cultivated as an ornamental. It has sharply-toothed, lance-shaped green leaves and bears large, showy, bright golden yellow trumpet-shaped flowers. It is drought-tolerant and grows well in warm climates. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

The plant produces pods containing yellow seeds with papery wings. The plant is desirable fodder when it grows in fields grazed by livestock. Yellow Trumpetbush is a ruderal species, readily colonising disturbed, rocky, sandy, and cleared land and occasionally becoming an invasive weed.

The leaves and roots of the plant contain bioactive compounds, especially monoterpenes, which may have medicinal uses; Honey bees are attracted to it, but-unlike most flowering plants-the honey produced from Yellow Trumpetbush's nectar/pollen is poisonous.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.






5 comments:

  1. There is an island here in the country where T stans is growing luxuriously in the wild, so i thought it is an endemic species there. I even had difficulty knowing the ID, then finding it is Tstans i thought maybe it just came from domestic areas and relegated to the wild.

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  2. The flowers are very pretty, but I also like the shape of the pods.

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  3. Rich, vibrant colours of an attractive bloom, Nick.

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  4. Beautiful pictures of Tecoma stans and info.
    Gisela

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