''Tabebuia rosea'', also called pink poui, and rosy trumpet tree is a neotropical tree that grows up to and can reach a

diameter at breast height Diameter at breast height, or DBH, is a standard method of expressing the diameter of the trunk or bole of a standing tree. DBH is one of the most common dendrometric measurements. Tree trunks are measured at the height of an adult's breast, ...

of up to . The Spanish name ''roble de sabana'', meaning "savannah oak", is widely used in Costa Rica, probably because it often remains in heavily deforested areas and because of the resemblance of its wood to that of oak trees.Hernan Rodriguez Navas. 2007. La Utilidad de las Plantas Medicinales en Costa Rica. EUNA, Heredia, Costa Rica. 213pp. It is the

national tree This is a list of countries that have officially designated one or more trees as their national trees. Most species in the list are officially designated. Some species hold only an "unofficial" status. Additionally, the list includes trees that we ...

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

, where it is called maquilíshuat.

Distribution and habitat

This species is distributed from southern Mexico, to Venezuela and Ecuador. It has been found growing from sealevel to , in temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 30 °C on average, with annual rainfall above 500 mm, and on soils with very variable pH. This tree is often seen in

Neotropic The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeogra ...

al cities, where it is often planted in parks and gardens. In the rainy season it offers shade and, in the dry season, abundant flowers are present on the defoliated trees.

Description

The tree is short, with irregular, stratified ramification and only few thick branches. The bark can be gray to brown, in varying darkness and may be vertically fissured.

Leaves A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...

are compound, digitate and

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and botany, the term deciduous () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed Leaf, leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, aft ...

. Each leaf has five leaflets of variable size, the middle one being the largest. Flowering occurs mainly in January and February, and is generally associated with dry periods; although flowering has also been observed in August, September, April and May. Flowers are large, in various tones of pink to purple, and appear while the tree has few or no leaves.

Pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma (botany), stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, for example bees, beetles or bu ...

occurs probably by insects, although the flowers are visited by many birds such as

tanager The tanagers (singular ) comprise the bird family (biology), family Thraupidae, in the order Passeriformes. The family has a Neotropical distribution and is the second-largest family of birds. It represents about 4% of all avian species and 12 ...

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

s and orioles. The long and slender fruit capsules can measure up to and appear from February through April. After the drying fruit dehisces, the anemochorous,

hyaline A hyaline substance is one with a glassy appearance. The word is derived from , and . Histopathology Hyaline cartilage is named after its glassy appearance on fresh gross pathology. On light microscopy of H&E stained slides, the extracellula ...

membrane A membrane is a selective barrier; it allows some things to pass through but stops others. Such things may be molecules, ions, or other small particles. Membranes can be generally classified into synthetic membranes and biological membranes. Bi ...

- winged seeds are released. There are an average of 45,000 seeds per kg with up to 13% water content.

Germination Germination is the process by which an organism grows from a seed or spore. The term is applied to the sprouting of a seedling from a seed of an angiosperm or gymnosperm, the growth of a sporeling from a spore, such as the spores of fungi, ...

of seeds is extremely easy and efficient, reaching almost 100%. It is a fairly fast growing tree.

Medicinal uses

Preparations of the bark of the tree are consumed to eliminate intestinal parasites, malaria and uterine cancer. A decoction of the bark is recommended for anemia and constipation. A decoction of the flowers, leaves and roots has been used to reduce fevers and pain, cause sweating, to treat tonsil inflammation and various other disorders. Among the various active phytochemicals in the tree is lapachol, a natural

organic compound Some chemical authorities define an organic compound as a chemical compound that contains a carbon–hydrogen or carbon–carbon bond; others consider an organic compound to be any chemical compound that contains carbon. For example, carbon-co ...

isolated from various other ''Tabebuia'' species. Chemically, it is a derivative of

naphthoquinone Naphthoquinones constitute a class of organic compounds structurally related to naphthalene. Two isomers are common for the parent naphthoquinones: * 1,2-Naphthoquinone * 1,4-Naphthoquinone Natural products * Alkannin * Hexahydroxy-1,4-nap ...

, related to

vitamin K Vitamin K is a family of structurally similar, fat-soluble vitamers found in foods and marketed as dietary supplements. The human body requires vitamin K for post-translational modification, post-synthesis modification of certain proteins ...

. Once studied as a possible treatment for some types of cancer, lapachol's potential is now considered low due to its toxic side effects. Lapachol also has antimalarial and antitrypanosomal effects.Gupta, M. 1995. 270 Plantas Medicinales Iberoamericanas. Santa Fe de Bogota. Convenio Andres Bello.

References

External links

INBio−Atta: ''Tabebuia rosea''

RNGR.net: Tropical Tree Seed Manual − ''Tabebuia rosea''
{{Taxonbar, from=Q3695281 rosea Trees of Northern America Trees of Belize Trees of Costa Rica Trees of El Salvador Trees of Guatemala Trees of Honduras Trees of Nicaragua Trees of Panama Trees of Venezuela Trees of Colombia Trees of Ecuador Garden plants of North America Garden plants of South America Least concern plants Least concern flora of North America Least concern biota of Mexico Least concern biota of South America National symbols of El Salvador Taxa named by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle