Editing Tabebuia (section)

===Taxonomic history===
[[Image:Plaque-Tabebuia-pallida-Réunion.JPG|thumb|right|Trunk of ''Tabebuia pallida'']]
The [[Botanical name|name]] ''Tabebuia'' entered the [[Scientific literature|botanical literature]] in 1803, when [[António Bernardino Gomes]] used it as a [[common name]] for ''Tabebuia uliginosa'', now a [[Synonym (taxonomy)|synonym]] for ''Tabebuia cassinoides'', which he [[Diagnosis (taxonomy)|described]] as a species of ''[[Bignonia]]''.<ref name="gomes1803">Antonio B. Gomes. 1803. ''Observationes Botanico-medicae de Nonnullis Brasiliae Plantis''. Lisbon.</ref> ''Tabebuia'' is an abbreviation of "tacyba bebuya", a Tupi name meaning "ant wood".<ref name="gentry1969">Alwyn H. Gentry. 1969. "''Tabebuia'', the tortuous history of a generic name (Bignoniaceae)". ''Taxon'' '''18'''(6):635-642.</ref> Among the [[Indigenous peoples in Brazil]], similar names exist for various species of ''Tabebuia''.<ref>{{cite book|last=Quattrocchi|first=Umberto|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2ndDtX-RjYkC|title=CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names|publisher=Taylor & Francis US|year=2000|isbn=978-0-8493-2678-3|volume=4 R-Z|pages=2621}} (See ''External links'' below).</ref>

''Tabebuia'' was first used as a [[Genus#Generic name|generic name]] by [[Augustin Pyramus de Candolle]] in 1838.<ref name="ipnitabebuia"/><ref name="decandolle1838">Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. 1838. "Revue sommaire de la famille des Bignoniaceae". ''Bibliotheque Universelle de Genève'', series 2, '''17''':130.</ref> The [[type species]] for the genus is ''Tabebuia uliginosa'', which is now a synonym for ''Tabebuia cassinoides''.<ref name="ingtabebuia">''Tabebuia'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: [[Regnum Vegetabile]] (see ''External links'' below).</ref> Confusion soon ensued over the meaning of ''Tabebuia'' and what to include within it. Most of the misunderstanding was cleared up by [[Nathaniel Lord Britton]] in 1915.<ref name="britton1915">Nathaniel Lord Britton. 1915. "Studies of West Indian plants". ''Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club'' '''42'''(7):372-379.</ref> Britton revived the concept of ''Tabebuia'' that had been originated in 1876 by [[George Bentham|Bentham]] and [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hooker]], consisting of species with either simple or palmately compound leaves.<ref name="b&h1876">George Bentham and Joseph D. Hooker. 1876. ''Genera plantarum :ad exemplaria imprimis in Herberiis Kewensibus servata definita'' vol. 2 part 2:1026-1053. Reeve & Co. London, England. (See ''External links'' below).</ref> Similar plants with [[pinnate]]ly compound leaves were placed in ''[[Tecoma]]''. This is the concept of ''Tabebuia'' that was usually followed until 2007.

The genus ''Roseodendron'' was established by [[Faustino Miranda|Faustino Miranda González]] in 1965 for the two species now known as ''[[Roseodendron donnell-smithii]]'' and ''[[Roseodendron chryseum]]''.<ref name="miranda1965">Faustino Miranda-Gonzalez. 1965. "Estudios acerca de arboles y arbustos de America Tropical principamente de Mexico". ''Boletin de la Sociedad Botanica de Mexico'' 29( ):34-49.</ref> These species had been placed in ''[[Cybistax]]'' by [[Russell J. Seibert]] in 1940,<ref name="seibert1940b">Russell J. Seibert. 1940. "New names in ''Cybistax'' and ''Tabebuia''". ''Tropical Woods'' '''63''':7-8.</ref> but were returned to ''Tabebuia'' by [[Alwyn Howard Gentry|Alwyn H. Gentry]] in 1992.<ref name="gentry1992fn"/>

''[[Handroanthus]]'' was established by [[Joáo Rodrigues de Mattos]] in 1970.<ref name="mattos1970">Joáo Rodrigues de Mattos. 1970. "''Handroanthus'', Um novo gênero para os "ipês" do Brasil". ''Loefgrenia'' '''50'''(?):1-4.</ref> Gentry did not agree with the [[Segregate (taxonomy)|segregation]] of ''Handroanthus'' from ''Tabebuia'' and warned against "succumbing to further paroxysms of unwarranted splitting".<ref name="gentry1972">Alwyn H. Gentry. 1972. "''Handroanthus'' (Bignoniaceae): A critique". ''Taxon'' '''21'''(1):113-114.</ref> In 1992, Gentry published a revision of ''Tabebuia'' in [[Flora Neotropica]], in which he described 99 species and one [[hybrid (biology)|hybrid]], including those species placed by some authors in ''Roseodendron'' or ''Handroanthus''.<ref name="gentry1992fn"/> Gentry divided ''Tabebuia'' into ten "species groups", some of them intentionally artificial. ''Tabebuia'', as currently circumscribed, consists of groups 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Group 1 is now the genus ''Roseodendron''. Groups 3, 4, and 5 compose the genus ''Handroanthus''.

In 2007, a [[molecular phylogenetic]] [[Research|study]] found ''Handroanthus'' to be closer to a certain [[Clade|group]] of four genera than to ''Tabebuia''.<ref name="grose2007phylogeny"/> This group consists of ''[[Spirotecoma]]'', ''[[Parmentiera]]'', ''[[Crescentia]]'', and ''[[Amphitecna]]''. A [[phylogenetic tree]] can be seen at [[Bignoniaceae#Phylogeny|Bignoniaceae]]. ''Handroanthus'' was duly resurrected and 30 species were assigned to it, with species boundaries the same as those of Gentry (1992).

''Roseodendron'' was resolved as [[sister taxon|sister]] to a [[clade]] consisting of ''Handroanthus'' and four other genera. This result had only weak [[Resampling (statistics)|statistical support]], but ''Roseodendron'' clearly did not group with the remainder of ''Tabebuia''. Consequently, ''Roseodendron'' was resurrected in its original form.<ref name="grose2007revisions"/> The remaining 67 species of ''Tabebuia'' formed a strongly supported clade that is sister to ''[[Ekmanianthe]]'', a genus of two species from Cuba and Hispaniola. ''Tabebuia'' had been traditionally placed in the [[Tribe (biology)|tribe]] [[Tecomeae]], but that tribe is now defined much more narrowly than it had been, and it now excludes ''Tabebuia''.<ref name="olmstead2009">Richard G. Olmstead, Michelle L. Zjhra, Lúcia G. Lohmann, Susan O. Grose, and Andrew J. Eckert. 2009. "A molecular phylogeny and classification of Bignoniaceae". ''American Journal of Botany'' '''96'''(9):1731-1743. {{doi|10.3732/ajb.0900004}}</ref> ''Tabebuia'' is now one of 12 to 14 genera belonging to a [[Taxon|group]] that is informally called the ''Tabebuia'' [[alliance (taxonomy)|alliance]]. This group has not been placed at any particular [[taxonomic rank]].

[[Cladistic]] analysis of [[DNA]] [[data]] has strongly supported ''Tabebuia'' by [[Bayesian inference]] and [[maximum parsimony]]. Such studies have so far revealed almost nothing about relationships within the genus, placing nearly all of the [[Sample (material)|sampled]] species in a large [[polytomy]].