Tecoma stans

Description

Tecoma stans is a semi-evergreen shrub or small tree, growing up to 10 m tall. It features opposite odd-pinnate green leaves, with 3 to 13 serrate, 8- to 10-cm-long leaflets. The leaflets, glabrous on both sides, have a lanceolate blade 2–10 cm long and 1–4 cm wide, with a long acuminate apex and a wedge-shaped base.

The large, showy, golden yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers are in clusters at the ends of branches. The corolla of the flower is bell- to funnel-shaped, five-lobed (weakly two-lipped), often reddish-veined in the throat and is 3.5 to 8.5 cm long. Flowering takes place from spring to fall, but more profusely from spring to summer.

The fruits, narrow capsules, arise from two carpels and are up to 25 cm long. A fruit contains many yellow seeds with membranopus wings; when the fruit opens upon ripening, these seed are spread by the wind (anemochory). The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. Apart from sexually by seed, Tecoma stans can also be reproduced asexually by stem cuttings.

Habitat

Tecoma stans is native to the Americas. It extends from the southern United States through Mexico, Central America, and the Antilles to northern Venezuela, and through the Andes mountain range to northern Argentina. It was introduced in southern Africa, India, and Hawaii. It is evergreen in moist and warmer regions, but is deciduous in more temperate regions that have a pronounced dry season.

Yellow trumpetbush is a ruderal species, readily colonizing disturbed, rocky, sandy, and cleared land and occasionally becoming an invasive weed. It thrives in a wide variety of ecosystems, from high altitude temperate forests and tropical deciduous and evergreen forests, to xerophilous scrub and the intertropical littoral. It quickly colonizes disturbed, rocky, sandy, and cleared fields. The species prefers dry and sunny regions of the coast.

Cultivation

Tecoma stans is drought-tolerant and grows well in warm climates. It is cultivated as an ornamental. They are grown in many parts of the world for their beautiful flowering, to adorn streets and gardens. It can be easily propagated by stem cuttings.

Uses

The wood of Tecoma stans is used in rustic architecture like bahareque, for the construction of furniture and canoes, or as firewood or charcoal. It is a medicinal plant used against diabetes and against diseases of the digestive system, among other uses. The plant is desirable fodder when it grows in fields grazed by livestock.

It is a very potent anti-venom against cobra venom, used by Pakistani old medicine. It is proved to be better than antiserum, the paste of this plant's leaves are applied topically on the cobra bite. Its bio-chemicals bind with the cobra venom enzymes thus effectively inhibiting the venom.

Honey production

Main article: Bees and toxic chemicals

Tecoma stans is unique in that although it is nontoxic itself, the honey from its flowers is poisonous nonetheless.

Invasiveness

Tecoma stans has invasive potential and occasionally becomes a weed. The species is considered invasive in Africa (especially South Africa), South America, Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands. It now presents a significant danger for biodiversity. It competes with local species and can form thick, almost monospecific thickets. Seedlings establish speedily with a prominent tap root. The tree can replant from cut roots, thereby causing rapid re-infestation unless the remaining roots are burnt off.

Gallery

File:Tecoma stans angustata habit and habitat.jpg|In native habitat File:(Tecoma_stans)_yellow_bell_flowers_at_Tenneti_Park_02.JPG|Scrubby bush File:Pollen grain of yellow elder.jpg|Pollen grain of yellow elder File:Starr_071024-0368_Tecoma_stans.jpg|Fruit File:Tecoma stans 22zz.jpg|Branching tree File:Tecoma Stans (Yellow Elder) (28894234765).jpg|Large shrub File:Tecoma stans in IIT-Delhi.jpg|Large tree flowering File:Tecoma stans by Prahlad balaji 1.jpg|As a garden plant File:Tecoma stans by Prahlad balaji 2.jpg|Front yard plant Tecoma Stans (Yellow Elder) (28609690300).jpg|Tree with fruit Tecoma stans (yellow bell flower) 30.jpg|As a street tree File:黃鐘花 Tecoma stans 20221026172228 01.jpg|Plant by the road

References

References

1. (2019). "''Tecoma stans''".
2. [http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-318412 theplantlist.org]
3. {{GRIN
4. "Plants – Buck Island Reef". [[National Park Service]] (US).
5. [https://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/NSWfl.pl?page=nswfl&lvl=sp&name=Tecoma~stans#:~:text=Flowering%3A%20spring%E2%80%93summer.,%2C%20Mexico%2C%20Peru%20%26%20Ecuador. Tecoma stans (L.) Kunth] NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE. PlantNet. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
6. [https://www.gardenia.net/plant/tecoma-stans Tecoma Stans (Yellow Bells)] Gardenia.net. Retrieved 26 July 2023.
7. (March 2005). "Beija-flores (Aves, Trochilidae) e seus recursos florais em uma área urbana do Sul do Brasil". Revista Brasileira de Zoologia.
8. [https://www.cabidigitallibrary.org/doi/10.1079/cabicompendium.52951 Tecoma stans (yellow bells)] by [[Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International]]. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
9. (2014). "Naja naja karachiensis Envenomation: Biochemical Parameters for Cardiac, Liver, and Renal Damage along with Their Neutralization by Medicinal Plants". BioMed Research International.
10. (January 2021). "A review on phytochemistry and pharmacological uses of Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. ex Kunth". Journal of Ethnopharmacology.
11. (2014). "Phytochemical investigation and anti-microbial activity of Tecoma stans". World Journal of Pharmaceutical Research.