Tecoma stans

Common Name: Yellow Trumpetbush, Yellowbells
Oˊodham Name: [Unknown]
Group: Shrubs － Chaparral, Desert (upper), Upland

Description

Tecoma stans is a frost-deciduous shrub or (rarely) small, multi-trunked tree that grows among rocks on sunny, south-facing slopes at 3,500 to 5,500 feet elevation. Mature plants are usually 5 or 6 feet tall but may reach 20 feet in the most favorable locations. Leaves are pinnately compound. The leaflets are lanceolate with marginal teeth, shiny, and typically 3 to 4 inches long. Fragrant yellow flowers grow in terminal clusters at the ends of branches and appear in Spring and August, during the summer monsoon period and, in some years, in October. Flowers are about 2 inches long, bright yellow, and trumpet-shaped with 5 round lobes. They attract hummingbirds and black carpenter bees. The flowers produce brown seed pods up to 8 inches long that contain stacks of seeds having papery wings that aid in wind dispersal..

Classification

Kingdom Plantae － Plants

Subkingdom Tracheobionta － Vascular plants

Superdivision Spermatophyta － Seed plants

Division Magnoliophyta － Flowering plants

Class Magnoliopsida － Dicotyledons

Subclass Asteridae

Order Scrophulariales

Family Bignoniaceae － Trumpet-creeper family

Genus Tecoma Juss. － trumpetbush

Species Tecoma stans (L.) Juss. ex Kunth － yellow trumpetbush

More Information

USDA Plant Profile and Map