Tabebuia
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 Tabebuia tree, known as Ipê-amarelo (yellow ipê) in Brazil
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Tabebuia is a Neotropical genus of about 100 species in the tribe Tecomeae of the family Bignoniaceae. The species range from northern Mexico and the Antilles south to northern Argentina. Most species are on the islands of Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) and Cuba.
They are large shrubs and trees growing to 5-50 m (16-32 feet) tall depending on the species; many species are dry-season deciduous but some are evergreen. The leaves are opposite pairs, simple or palmately compound with 3-7 leaflets. The flowers are 3-11 cm (1-4 inches) wide, produced in dense clusters; color varies between species, either red, yellow, pink, or white. The fruit is a pod 10-50 cm (4-20 inches)long, containing numerous winged seeds; the pods often remain on the tree through winter.
Species in this genus are important as timber trees and as ornamentals because of their showy flowers. Many flower on leafless stems at the end of the dry season, making the floral display more conspicuous.
The bark of several species is used medicinally. The wood is used for furniture, decking, and other outdoor uses. It has a fire rating of A1 (the highest possible, the same as concrete) [1], and is denser than water (it sinks). It is increasingly popular as a decking material due to its insect resistance and durability.
However, the demand for ipê has risen dramatically in recent years, especially in the United States. The US is now the largest importer of ipê from Brazil and ipê has become Brazil's largest timber export.[citation needed] By the 1990s, numerous environmental organizations working on preservation of the Amazon reported that about 80% of logging in the Brazilian Amazon was illegal. The Brazilian government has confirmed this figure, most notably in a ‘leaked’ report from the Brazilian intelligence agency, the Secretaria de Assuntos Estratégicos (SAE) or Strategic Affairs Secretariat, in which it was confirmed that five times the amount of wood sanctioned to be cut from legal Amazon concessions was being exported and that numerous staff of the environment agency, IBAMA, were taking bribes. In one Greenpeace report, The Santarém Five and Illegal Logging — A Case Study, five companies were reported to be logging illegally in the region around Santarém, Pará. At that time exports from that region were most notably going to the Netherlands and France. Ipê was among the illegal exports.
Much of the ipê imported into the US is used for decking. Starting in the late 1960s, importing companies targeted large boardwalk projects to sell ipê, beginning with New York City Parks and Recreation (“Parks”) which maintains the city’s boardwalk, including along the beach of Coney Island. The city began using ipê around that time and has since converted the entire boardwalk — over 10 miles long — to ipê. The ipê lasted about 25 years, at which time (1994), Parks has been replacing it with new ipê.
NYC Parks and now many other municipal governments, order ipê for boardwalks most often as 2x4" beams, in lengths exceeding 10 feet and as FAS (first and second) grade, four-sides-clear (all four sides of the beam must be free of knots or defects for the entire length of the board). Only a small portion of the lumber milled from an ipê tree will meet this standard. Given that ipê trees typically grow in densities of only one or two trees per acre, large areas of forest must be logged to fill orders for boardwalks and, to a lesser extent, homeowner decks.
A Rainforest Relief report, Deep Impact, stated that on average about one acre of forest must be logged for 76 board feet of FEQ (first export quality — FAS four-side-clear) grade ipê over seven feet in length. Typically, wooden boardwalks are composed of 30,000 – 40,000 board feet per city block. For New York City’s 10 miles of boardwalk, this would yield an estimate of 83,360 acres of Amazon rainforest logged.
- Tabebuia alba (Cham.) Sandw. (syn.: Tecoma alba Cham, Handroanthus albus (Cham.) Mattos) - Brazil
- Tabebuia avellanedae Lor. ex Griseb. (Pink Ipê, Ipê-roxo, Paud'arco-roxo, Ipê-roxo-damata, Ipê-reto, Ipê-rosa, Ipê-comum, Ipê-cavatã, Lapacho, Peúva, and Piúva ; syn. Tecoma ipe Mart. ex K. Schm., Tecoma avellandedae (Lor. ex Griseb.) Spreg., Handroanthus avellanedae (Lor. ex Griseb.) Mattos, Tabebuia ipe (Mart.) Standl.) from South America, is native of Brazil; bark is used as a medicinal herb
- Tabebuia caraiba (Mart.) Bur. (syn.: Tecoma argentea Bur. et K. Sch., Tecoma caraiba Mart., Tecoma caraiba var. squamellulosa (DC.) Bur. et K. Sch., Tecoma squamellulosa DC., and Handroanthus caraiba (Mart.) Mattos)
- Tabebuia cassinoides
- Tabebuia chrysantha (Jacq.) Nichols. (Araguaney) from northern South America, is the national tree of Venezuela. The flowers are yellow. In northern Colombia is known as cañaguate.[2]
- Tabebuia chrysotricha (Mart. ex DC.) Standl. (Golden Trumpet Tree; syn T. flavescens, T. pedicellata), from Brazil; golden-yellow to red flowers.
- Tabebuia donnell-smithii Rose (Prima vera or Gold tree), a native of Mexico and Central Americas, is considered one of the most colorful of all trees. The leaves are deciduous. Masses of golden-yellow flowers cover the crown after the leaves are shed.
- Tabebuia dura
- Tabebuia heptaphylla
- Tabebuia impetiginosa (Pau d'arco), bark used as a medicinal herb
- Tabebuia ochracea
- Tabebuia rosea (A.P. de Candolle) Britton (Pink Poui, Pink tecoma or Apama or Apamate; syn. T. pentaphylla (L.) Hemsley, widely but incorrectly applied to this species) is a popular street tree in tropical cities because of its multi-annular masses of light pink flowers and modest size. The roots are not especially aggressive towards roads and sidewalks. It is native of Brazil
- Tabebuia roseo-alba
- Tabebuia serratifolia (Yellow Poui, Ipê, Pau d'arco, Ipê roxo, or Lapacho) is a commercially farmed hardwood notable for its extreme hardness and resistance to fire and pests. Its inner bark is used as a treatment for fungal infections.
- Tabebuia umbellata
- Tabebuia vellosoi
[edit] References
- Lorenzi, H. (1992). Árvores brasileiras: manual de identificação e cultivo de plantas arbóreas nativas do Brasil. Plantarum (in Portuguese).
- Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan.
- Germplasm Resources Information Network: Tabebuia
- Política Florestal: Exploração Madeireira na Amazônica. Secretaria de Assuntos Estratégicos (SAE). April 1997.
- Marquesini, M. and Edwards, G., 2001. The Santarem Five and Illegal Logging — A Case Study, Greenpeace Amazon, October, 2001.
- Keating, T., 1998. Deep Impact: An Estimate of Tropical Rainforest Acres Impacted for a Board Foot of Imported Ipê, Rainforest Relief, New York.
