Common Names: Golden Trumpet Tree, Araguaney, Yellow Ipê, Cañaguate (Columbia), Tajibo (Bolivia), Ipê-amarelo (Brazil)
Species: Tabebuia chrysantha
Family: BIGNONIACEAE
Tabebuia chrysantha has golden pom-pom like clusters of trumpet-shaped flowers that look spectacular against a late-winter blue sky in Brisbane, Australia. It drops all its leaves just before it begins to flower. After flowering they develop long, fuzzy pods covered with short brown hairs. These pods can holds hundreds and hundreds of seeds which are flat and surrounded by a thin, paper-like membrane which helps them be dispersed by the wind. It is fortunate that these seeds do not remain viable for very long, as I'm quite certain this spectacular flowering tree would become an invasive species in native Australian bushlands otherwise. Tabebuia chrysantha occurs naturally in forests of South America.
