Tecoma stans is a species of flowering perennial shrub in the trumpet vine family, Bignoniaceae, that is native to the Americas. Common names include yellow trumpetbush, yellow bells, yellow elder, ginger-thomas. Tecoma stans is the official flower of the United States Virgin Islands and the floral emblem of The Bahamas.
A semi-evergreen shrub that can grow to a small tree, it features sharply toothed, opposite green leaves that are pinnate unpaired, with 3 to 13 serrate, 8 to 10 cm long leaflets. The leaflets, glabrous on both sides, have an elliptical lanceolate blade 2ââ¬â10 cm long and 1ââ¬â4 cm wide, with a long acuminate apex and a wedge-shaped base. The margin is finely toothed It reaches heights of 6 to 9 meters.
The large, showy, golden yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers are in clusters at the branch ends, are bell-shaped-funnel-shaped, five-lobed with weakly two-lipped, often reddish-veined in the throat and 3.5 to 8.5 cm long. Flowering takes place all year round. The fruits arise from two carpels and are up to 25 cm long, narrow capsules. The flowers attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.[4] The plant produces pods containing yellow seeds with papery wings. They release many seeds with membranous wings when they open. Tecoma stans reproduces sexually by anemochory or asexually.
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