Tibouchina

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iTibouchina

Tibouchina semidecandra at Strybing Arboretum, San Francisco

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Myrtales
Family:	Melastomataceae
Genus:	Tibouchina Aubl.

Species

About 350; see text.

Tibouchina (syn. Lasiandra DC.) is a genus of about 350 species of neotropical plants in the family Melastomataceae. They are trees, shrubs or subshrubs growing 0.5-25 m tall, and are known as "glory bushes" or sometimes "glory trees". They are native to rainforests of Mexico, the West Indies, and South America, especially Brazil. The name comes from an adaptation of the native Guiana term for these shrubs.

Selected species

Tibouchina benthamiana
Tibouchina bicolor
Tibouchina clavata
Tibouchina elegans
Tibouchina gaudichaudiana
Tibouchina gayana
Tibouchina grandifolia
Tibouchina granulosa (Purple Glory Tree, or Quaresmeira in Brazil)
Tibouchina heteromalla
Tibouchina holosericea
Tibouchina langsdorffiana
Tibouchina laxa
Tibouchina maudhiana
Tibouchina multiflora
Tibouchina organensis
Tibouchina semidecandra
Tibouchina stenoccarpa
Tibouchina urvilleana (syn. = T. semidecandra)
Tibouchina viminea

[edit] Cultivation

Tibouchina clavata from Brazil

Several species are cultivated for their large bright flowers. As tropical plants they are rather cold-sensitive, and should be raised in a greenhouse wherever temperatures fall below 8 °C to 10 °C.

Several Tibouchina species are considered noxious weeds in Hawai‘i.