Tecoma stans – Yellow Trumpetbush

Tecoma stans - Yellow Trumpetbush, Yellow Trumpet Bush, Yellow Bells, Yellow Trumpet-flower, Yellow Elder

Tecoma stans - Yellow Trumpetbush, Yellow Trumpet Bush, Yellow Bells, Yellow Trumpet-flower, Yellow Elder

Plant Name

Scientific Name: Tecoma stans

Synonyms: Bignonia stans, Stenolobium stans

Common Names: Yellow Trumpetbush, Yellow Trumpet Bush, Yellow Bells, Yellow Trumpet-flower, Yellow Elder

Plant Characteristics

Duration: Perennial, Frost deciduous

Growth Habit: Tree, Shrub

Arizona Native Status: Native

Habitat: Desert (upper elevation), Upland. Yellow Trumpetbush grows on rocky hillsides and is typically found in the lower mountain foothills. This plant is frost sensitive, so it prefers warm locations like sunny, south-facing hillsides where the cold winter air drains away at night. Because it has showy flowers and attractive foliage, this plant is also grown as a garden and landscaping plant here.

Flower Color: Yellow

Flowering Season: Spring, Summer, Fall

Height: To 20 feet (6.1 m) tall, but usually less here due to hard frosts and limited water

Description: The trumpet-shaped flowers are clustered at the branch tips. The individual flowers are broadly tubular, 2 inches (5 cm) long, and have 5 rounded lobes. The flowers are followed by 8 inch (20 cm) long, narrow, brown seed pods. The leaves are pinnately compound with an odd number of green, toothed, lanceolate leaflets.

Special Characteristics

Hummingbird Flower – The flowers attract hummingbirds and also large, black Carpenter Bees (Carpenter bees (Xylocopa spp.).

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 About This Plant

Arizona County Distribution Map