Tabebuia heterophylla Seeds | Pink Trumpet Tree

Slender tree in full pink bloom on bare branches, with palmately divided leaves below — Pink trumpet tree (Tabebuia heterophylla): Bignoniaceae, the Caribbean

LATIN NAME: Tabebuia heterophylla

COMMON NAME: Pink Trumpet Tree

Plant Profile

Pink trumpet tree is a slender, fast-growing tree of the Caribbean, usually eight to twelve metres, with a crown that opens out widely as it ages and a trunk that stays smooth and grey for years. The leaves are palmately compound with five leaflets, and they are variable enough in shape and hairiness that the epithet heterophylla is deserved. For a fortnight in late winter or spring the tree drops most of its leaves and covers itself in loose clusters of pink, trumpet-shaped flowers, so that the whole crown turns a soft rose colour and the ground beneath is littered with fallen corollas. Flowering is brief and unpredictable; some years are spectacular, others barely worth a photograph. Long, narrow, winged capsules follow, splitting to release papery, winged seed.

Science & Biotechnology

The genus Tabebuia has been split, and many of the showiest species — including the red and yellow trumpet trees — now sit in Handroanthus, distinguished by hairy leaves and different wood anatomy. T. heterophylla stays in Tabebuia proper, in the group with palmate leaves and pink to white flowers. The bloom-before-leaf habit is a strategy for visibility: with the canopy bare, a tree in flower can be seen by pollinators from a kilometre away, and the brief, synchronised display is timed to the emergence of its bee and hummingbird visitors. The wood is light, strong and durable, and it has been used for construction, boat building and tool handles across the islands. The bark contains lapachol and related naphthoquinones, the same family of compounds that made the related pau d’arco famous.

Uses & Benefits

It is planted throughout the Caribbean and in southern Florida as a street and garden tree, valued for its speed, its tolerance of salt and drought, and the sheer impact of its flowering fortnight. It is not long-lived by tree standards — fifty to seventy years is a good run — which is worth knowing before you put one in a position where a permanent tree is wanted. The wood is used locally for light construction and for charcoal, and the tree is a useful pioneer on disturbed ground, fixing nothing but shading the soil and building litter quickly. The bark is not the commercial source of pau d’arco tea; that is Handroanthus impetiginosus, and the two should not be substituted. In a garden the tree works best as a specimen on a lawn or in a row along a boundary.

Growing from Seed

The seed is papery and short-lived, so sow it as soon as it arrives, on the surface of a light mix, and press it in without covering. Keep the tray at 24 to 28 °C with bright light and steady moisture; germination is fast, often within ten days, and the seedlings grow quickly. Pot them on before they crowd, and grow them in full sun through their first summer. Plant out once the trunk is finger-thick and the risk of frost has passed. The tree tolerates a wide range of soils but wants sharp drainage and full sun for good flowering; in shade it grows tall and flowers little. Stake it for two years, prune only to remove competing leaders, and expect the first proper flowering at four to six years from seed.

Our Take

A fast, tolerant, briefly spectacular tree for a warm climate, best planted where its short life and brittle wood will not cause trouble.

Herb Seeds