Pink Trumpet-tree

Tabebuia heterophylla grows up to 20 to 30 feet tall. Leaves are opposite and palmately compound with five or fewer leaflets. T. heterophylla is considered brevi decidius. Flowers are showy pink, tubular and five lobed (2 to 3 inches long). The flowering time is spring and summer. Its fruit is a seedpod, it splits along 2 lines to shed the numerous thin light brown seeds (1/2 to 1 inch long with 2 white wings).

Flower anatomy. The flowers of Tabebuia heterophylla are in an inflorescence of the umbellate type. It is a perfect and complete flower with radial (actinomorphic) symmetry, and the whorls of the corrolla and the calyx are connately joined. The ovary is superior with an axile placentation, two locules and two carpels.

The tree is native to the Caribbean, notably Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles. It is particularly common throughout Puerto Rico except in the higher elevations of the Sierra de Luquillo and the Cordillera Central. It can be found in high concentrations in the Sierra de Cayey and a protected area there, La Robleda, has recently become famous for its blooms which happen for a few weeks every year.