Scientific Name : Tabebuia argentea (Bureau and K. Schum.) Britton
Common Name : Silver Trumpet Tree, Tree of Gold
Chinese Name : 銀鱗金鈴木, 銀鱗風鈴木, 黃金風鈴木
Family : BIGNONIACEAE
Local distribution status : Exotic species
| Origin | Mesoamerica to South America. |
|---|---|
| Application |
In line with other Trumpet Trees, Silver Trumpet Tree is also regarded as an excellent ornamental tree due to its spectacular blossoms widely planted. Every spring, rows of Trumpet Trees blossom and compete for beauty. They immerse the city into a perceived vitality and inevitably slow down every citizen for appreciating this ephemeral but majestic moment, intoxicated by this brief and magnificent splendor. The tree is also exploited for multiple functions in its native range. The tree contains rich flavonoid compounds. The extracts from leaves and flowers are used for treating influenza. The wood is hard, textured and flexible; therefore, it is commonly harvested for making furniture and other constructions. |
| Meaning of names | The specific epithet argentea refers to silvery flashing, like covered with a thin layer of silver scale, describing its lustrous leaf colour under the sunlight. Due to this characteristic, the tree is named as ‘Silver Trumpet Tee’. When blossoms, the crown is entirely covered with golden colour, hence also named as ‘Tree of Gold’. |
| Silver Trumpet Tree and Yellow Pui (Tabebuia chrysantha) | Two Trumpet Trees are outwardly the same, sharing both palmate compound leaves and golden blossoms. Looking for the types of indumenta covering on plants is the distinguishable trick. The leaves and flowers of Yellow Pui are covered with observable stellate-hairs, while those of Silver Trumpet Tree are lepidote and only accessible under a microscope. Likewise, whilst the leaves of Yellow Pui are serrate, those of Silver Trumpet Tree are entire. |
| Growing habit | Deciduous or evergreen tree. |
|---|---|
| Height | To 16 m tall. |
| Stem | Bark light brown, longitudinally fissured. |
| Leaves | Palmately compound opposite, with 5-7 leaflets. Blade oblong-elliptic to oblong lanceolate, apex retuse or rounded, base subcordate to rounded, entire, lepidote on both surfaces. Lustrous when directly exposed to the sunlight. |
| Flowers | Panicles terminal, lepidote. Calyx campanulate and bilabiate are describing two different features from a flower., yellowish brown. Corolla golden, funnelform. Hermaphroditic. |
| Fruits | Capsules oblong, dark brown and dehiscent at maturity. Seeds compressed, winged. |
| Flowering period | / |
| Fruiting period | / |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website: https://herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=11044
Scientific names from other databases:
― Plant of the World Online: Tabebuia aurea (Silva Manso) Benth. and Hook.f. ex S.Moore
― GBIF: Tabebuia aurea (Silva Manso) Benth. and Hook.f. ex S.Moore