Bignoniaceae is a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s in the order

Lamiales The order Lamiales (also known as the mint order) are an order in the asterid group of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It includes about 23,810 species, 1,059 genera, and is divided into about 25 families. These families include Acanthaceae, B ...

commonly known as the bignonias or trumpetvines.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007). . It is not known to which of the other families in the order it is most closely related.Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). "Bignoniaceae" At:

Angiosperm Phylogeny Website The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (or APweb) is a website dedicated to research on angiosperm phylogeny and taxonomy. The site is hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden website and maintained by researchers, Peter F. Stevens and Hilary M. Davis. ...

. At: Botanical Databases At:

Missouri Botanical Garden The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million ...

Website. (see ''External links'' below) Nearly all of the Bignoniaceae are

woody plant A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposite to herbaceous plants that die back to the ground until s ...

s, but a few are subwoody, either as

vine A vine ( Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners thems ...

s or

subshrub A subshrub ( Latin ''suffrutex'') or dwarf shrub is a short shrub, and is a woody plant. Prostrate shrub is a related term. "Subshrub" is often used interchangeably with "bush".Jackson, Benjamin, Daydon; A Glossary of Botanic Terms with their ...

s. A few more are

herbaceous plant Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition ...

s of high-

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

s, in three exclusively herbaceous

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

: ''Tourrettia'', ''Argylia'', and ''

Incarvillea ''Incarvillea'' is a genus of about 16 species''Incarvillea''.
Flora of China. ...

''. The family includes many

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ...

s, climbing by

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized stem, leaf or petiole with a threadlike shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as '' Cuscuta''. There are many plants that have ten ...

s, by twining, or rarely, by

aerial root Aerial roots are roots above the ground. They are almost always adventitious. They are found in diverse plant species, including epiphytes such as orchids (''Orchidaceae''), tropical coastal swamp trees such as mangroves, banyan figs ('' ...

s. The largest

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

in the family, called Bignonieae, consists mostly of lianas and is noted for its unique

wood anatomy Wood anatomy is a scientific sub-area of wood science, which examines the variations in xylem anatomical characteristics across trees, shrubs, and herbaceous species to explore inquiries related to plant function, growth, and the environment. ...

.Eberhard Fischer, Inge Theisen, and Lúcia G. Lohmann. 2004. "Bignoniaceae". pages 9-38. In: Klaus Kubitzki (editor) and Joachim W. Kadereit (volume editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. The family has a nearly cosmopolitan distribution, but is mostly

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

, with a few

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and enterta ...

to the temperate zones. Its greatest diversity is in northern South America. The family has been covered in some major

floristic {{Short pages monitor Many species of Bignoniaceae have some use, either commercially or ethnobotanically, but the most important, by far, are those planted as ornamentals, especially the flowering trees. ''Jacaranda, Campsis, Pyrostegia, Tabebuia, Catalpa, Roseodendron, Handroanthus'' and ''Crescentia'' all have species of

horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...

significance, at least in warm climates. Several others, including ''Tecoma, Podranea, Pandorea, Bignonia'' and ''Mansoa'' are frequently grown as ornamentals, at least in certain areas of the tropics. A great many species are known in cultivation, if only rarely. ''

Jacaranda mimosifolia ''Jacaranda mimosifolia'' is a sub-tropical tree native to south-central South America that has been widely planted elsewhere because of its attractive and long-lasting Violet (color), violet-colored flowers. It is also known as the jacaranda, b ...

'' is common as an avenue tree. The winged petiole and

trifoliate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

leaf of '' Crescentia alata'' resembles a

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Cartha ...

cross, so is sometimes planted in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

as a

religious symbol A religious symbol is an iconic representation intended to represent a specific religion, or a specific concept within a given religion. Religious symbols have been used in the military in many countries, such as the United States military chap ...

. ''

Handroanthus ''Handroanthus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. It consists of 30 species of trees, known in Latin America by ...

'' and the unrelated ''

Guaiacum ''Guaiacum'' ('' OED'' 2nd edition, 1989.Entry "guaiacum"
in
Zygophyllaceae) have the hardest, heaviest, and most durable wood of the American tropics. Important timber trees in ''Handroanthus'' include ''H. heptaphyllus'', ''H. serratifolius'', ''H. guayacan'', ''H. chrysanthus'', and ''H. billbergii''. '' Tabebuia rosea'' (including ''Tabebuia pentaphylla'') is harvested for

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, w ...

throughout the

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...

tropics. ''

Tabebuia heterophylla ''Tabebuia heterophylla'' is a species of tree native to the Caribbean, and is also cultivated. It is also known as Roble blanco, pink manjack, pink trumpet tree, white cedar, and whitewood. Description ''Tabebuia heterophylla'' grows up to 20 ...

'', and '' Tabebuia angustata'' are important sources of lumber for some of the

Caribbean islands Almost all of the Caribbean islands are in the Caribbean Sea, with only a few in inland lakes. The largest island is Cuba. Other sizable islands include Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Trinidad and Tobago. Some of the smaller islands a ...

. Several species of ''Catalpa'' are also important

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including Beam (structure), beams and plank (wood), planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as fini ...

trees. ''

Paratecoma ''Paratecoma'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Bignoniaceae. Its native range is Southeastern Brazil. Species Species: * ''Paratecoma peroba'' (Record) Kuhlm. References {{Taxonbar, from=Q9055545 Bignoniaceae Bign ...

'' was once the most important timber tree of the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of the same name, Brazil's List of Brazilian states by population, third-most populous state, and the List of largest citi ...

area, but relentless exploitation has brought it to the verge of extinction. Several of the rare species of Bignoniaceae produce excellent wood, but are often not recognized by

lumberjack Lumberjacks are mostly North American workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to loggers in the era (before 1945 in the Unite ...

s. Several uses of plants in Bignoniaceae are known locally. ''

Parmentiera aculeata ''Parmentiera'' is a genus of plants in the family Bignoniaceae. Species include: * '' Parmentiera aculeata'' (Kunth) L. O. Williams — guajilote (Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua) * ''Parmentiera ce ...

'' is grown for its edible fruit in

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

and southern Mexico. The powdered seeds and sometimes the fruit pulp of ''

Crescentia cujete ''Crescentia cujete'', commonly known as the calabash tree, is a species of flowering plant native to the Americas, that is grown in Africa, Central America, South America, the West Indies and extreme southern Florida. It is the national tree ...

'' and '' Crescentia alata'' are used in

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean Sea, Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to ...

to make a refresco called ''

semilla de jicaro Horchata (; ), or (), is a name given to various beverages, which are generally plant-based, but sometimes contain animal milk. In Spain, it is made with soaked, ground, and sweetened tiger nuts. In Latin America and other parts of the Americ ...

''.

Onion An onion (''Allium cepa'' L., from Latin ''cepa'' meaning "onion"), also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable that is the most widely cultivated species of the genus ''Allium''. The shallot is a botanical variety of the oni ...

-scented species of ''Mansoa'' and

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands (or Moluccas) in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring or fragrance in consumer products ...

-scented species of ''Tynanthus'' are used as

condiment A condiment is a preparation that is added to food, typically after cooking, to impart a specific flavor, to enhance the flavor, or to complement the dish. A table condiment or table sauce is more specifically a condiment that is served separat ...

s. In northern Colombia, shavings of the stems of ''

Dolichandra quadrivalvis ''Dolichandra'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to Latin America and the Caribbean. They are climbing lianas with trifid and uncate tendrils. The best-known species is ''Dolichandra unguis-cati''. Species Curre ...

'' are added to bait which is left overnight near the burrows of crabs. The crabs are

paralyzed Paralysis (also known as plegia) is a loss of motor function in one or more muscles. Paralysis can also be accompanied by a loss of feeling (sensory loss) in the affected area if there is sensory damage. In the United States, roughly 1 in 50 ...

for a few hours after eating the bait and are picked up by crabbers in the morning. The crabs recover before they reach market, and no harm from eating them has been reported. '' Tanaecium nocturnum'' is the source of a

hallucinogenic Hallucinogens are a large, diverse class of psychoactive drugs that can produce altered states of consciousness characterized by major alterations in thought, mood, and perception as well as other changes. Most hallucinogens can be categorize ...

drug A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhal ...

.Christian Rätsch. 2005. ''The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Plants'' (translated by John R. Baker). Park Street Press: Rochester VT, USA. . Its crushed leaves and stems are used to enervate

bees Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfam ...

while gathering

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

. ''

Fridericia chica ''Fridericia chica'', the cricket-vine, puca panga, chica, carayurú (Spanish), carajuru or crajiru (Portuguese), is a medicinal plant in the family Bignoniaceae, also used for cosmetics. An orange-red dye A dye is a colored substance that ...

'' is the source of a red

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic comp ...

used in the

Amazon Basin The Amazon basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries. The Amazon drainage basin covers an area of about , or about 35.5 percent of the South American continent. It is located in the countries of Boli ...

for body paint and for

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution and ...

in basketry. ''

Cybistax antisyphilitica ''Cybistax'' is a genus of trees in the family Bignoniaceae. It contains a single species, ''Cybistax antisyphilitica'', a tree from tropical North and South America. Description These semi-deciduous plants have greyish green, opposite, ...

'' is the source of a blue dye commonly used in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

. The bark of ''

Sparattosperma leucantha ''Sparattosperma'' is a genus of flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, v ...

'' is used in

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

to produce a brown dye for staining

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor p ...

thread. Medical claims are innumerable and usually spurious. Gentry describes an especially ludicrous example. Misidentification of plants, even by botanists, continues to be a big problem for ethnobotany, and it is especially severe for Bignoniaceae.

Voucher A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term voucher is also a ...

specimen Specimen may refer to: Science and technology * Sample (material), a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount * Biological specimen or biospecimen, an organic specimen held by a biorepository ...

s are often

sterile Sterile or sterility may refer to: *Asepsis, a state of being free from biological contaminants * Sterile (archaeology), a sediment deposit which contains no evidence of human activity *Sterilization (microbiology), any process that eliminates or ...

and fragmentary, making them nearly impossible to identify. False medical claims are often based on mistaken identification. The bark of several species of ''Handroanthus'' is sold in South American markets. Similar-looking bark is often fraudulently passed off as ''Handroanthus''. It is used in various ways to relieve certain

symptom Signs and symptoms are the observed or detectable signs, and experienced symptoms of an illness, injury, or condition. A sign for example may be a higher or lower temperature than normal, raised or lowered blood pressure or an abnormality showi ...

s of certain

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal bl ...

s. No evidence shows it prevents the disease or slows its progression, as is often claimed. ''

Adenocalymma flavida ''Adenocalymma'' is a genus of plants in the family Bignoniaceae. This New World genus of lianas contains approximately 93 accepted Species. Its native range stretches from Mexico down to Tropical America. It is found in the countries of Argent ...

'' has been used to relieve the aching of joints and muscles. A root

extract An extract is a substance made by extracting a part of a raw material, often by using a solvent such as ethanol, oil or water. Extracts may be sold as tinctures, absolutes or in powder form. The aromatic principles of many spices, nuts ...

from '' Martinella'' is useful in the treatment of

conjunctivitis Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is inflammation of the outermost layer of the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelid. It makes the eye appear pink or reddish. Pain, burning, scratchiness, or itchiness may occur. The ...

and possibly other conditions of the eye.

References

Sources

* Alwyn H. Gentry. 1992. "Bignoniaceae: Part II (Tecomeae)". ''Flora Neotropica'' Monograph 25(2):1-150. (See ''External links'' below).