Top

Scientific Name
Synonyms
Family
Common Names
Origin
Cultivation
Naturalised Distribution
Habitat
Habit
Distinguishing Features
Stems and Leaves
Flowers and Fruit
Reproduction and Dispersal
Environmental Impact
Legislation
Similar Species
Print Fact Sheet
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWYXZ

Click on images to enlarge

habit in flower (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

habit with immature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

habit with mature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

rough bark on trunk of mature tree (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

once-compound leaf with toothed leaflets (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

flowers (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of flower with reddish lines in the throat (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

immature fruit (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

mature fruit with seeds (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of seeds (Photo: Steve Hurst at USDA PLANTS Database)

seedlings (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

young saplings (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

Orange bells,Tecoma alata, which is often confused with yellow bells, Tecoma stans (Photo: Sheldon Navie)

close-up of the flowers of orange bells (Tecoma alata), with reddish-orange outer surfaces and yellow throats without any reddish lines (Photo: Mellisa Offord)

Tecoma stans

Scientific Name

Tecoma stans (L.) Kunth

Synonyms

Bignonia stans L.
Stenolobium stans (L.) Seem.
Tecoma stans (L.) Kunth var. stans
Tecoma stans (L.) Kunth var. velutina DC.

Family

Bignoniaceae

Common Names

ginger-thomas, tecoma, trumpet flower, trumpetbush, yellow bells, yellow elder, yellow trumpet bush, yellow trumpet flower, yellow trumpet flowers, yellow trumpetbush, yellowbells, yellow-elder

Origin

Native to the tropical Americas (i.e. southern USA, Mexico, the Caribbean, Peru and Ecuador).

Cultivation

Yellow bells (Tecoma stans) has been widely cultivated as a garden ornamental, particularly in the warmer parts of Australia.

Naturalised Distribution

Widely naturalised in the coastal districts of northern and eastern Australia (i.e. in northern and eastern Queensland, eastern New South Wales and northern and north-western Western Australia). Possibly also naturalised in the Northern Territory and naturalised on Christmas Island.

Habitat

A a weed of roadsides, waterways (i.e. riparian areas), open woodlands, grasslands, forest margins, waste areas and disturbed sites in tropical and sub-tropical environments.

Habit

A large shrub or small, much-branched, tree usually growing 1.5 to 5 m tall, but occasionally reaching up to 10 m in height.

Distinguishing Features

Stems and Leaves

The younger stems are smooth, hairless (i.e. glabrous) and greenish in colour. They are slightly four-angled in cross-section (i.e. quadrangular) and turn pale brown or reddish-brown in colour as they age. The bark on the main stem is light brown to pale grey in colour, furrowed, and relatively rough in texture.

The leaves (10-25 cm long) are arranged in pairs (i.e. oppositely arranged) and are borne on slender stalks (i.e. petioles) 1-9 cm long. They are compound (i.e. pinnate) with 3-13 leaflets, but usually have 3-7 leaflets. The leaflets are narrowly egg-shaped (i.e. ovate-lanceolate) or elongated in shape (25-100 mm long and 8-30 mm wide) and have a pointed tip (i.e. acuminate apex). Their margins are irregularly and sharply toothed (i.e. serrated) and they are mostly hairless (i.e. glabrous), though a few hairs may be present on their undersides near the midrib.

Flowers and Fruit

The showy flowers are borne in several-flowered clusters (5-15 cm long) that are first produced at the ends of the branches (i.e. in terminal clusters), and then later in the leaf forks (i.e. axils) near the tips of the branches (i.e. in axillary clusters). These flowers are bright yellow in colour, tubular in shape, and borne on short stalks (i.e. pedicels) that are somewhat curved or twisted. The flower tube (i.e. corolla tube) is 30-50 mm long and has five rounded lobes that are 8-30 mm long. There are several faint reddish lines in the throat of the flower, which is slightly ridged and hairy. Flowering occurs mostly during spring, but may also be apparent throughout the year.

The fruit are large, elongated (i.e. linear), and somewhat flattened (i.e. compressed) capsules (10-30 cm long and 5-20 mm wide). These fruit turn from green to brown in colour as they mature and finally split open to release numerous papery seeds.

The seeds are very flat, oblong in shape (7-8 mm long and about 4 mm wide), and have a transparent wing at each end (the size of entire seed including the wings is about 20 x 6 mm).

Reproduction and Dispersal

This plant produces numerous light and papery seeds that are primarily wind-dispersed. They may also be spread by flood waters and in dumped garden waste.

Environmental Impact

Yellow bells (Tecoma stans) is regarded as an environmental weed in Queensland and New South Wales, and as a minor or potential environmental weed in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.

Legislation

This species is declared under legislation in the following states and territories:

Similar Species

Yellow bells (Tecoma stans) is very similar to orange bells (Tecoma alata) and may also be confused with the garden plants known as golden trumpet vine (Allamanda cathartica) and shrubby allamanda (Allamanda schottii). It may occasionally also be confused with yellow oleander (Cascabela thevetia). These species can be distinguished by the following differences: