Handroanthus heptaphyllus pink trumpet tree

Pink trumpet tree in late spring in front of Harmony House. Sairus Patel, 19 May 2018

Handroanthus heptaphyllus flowers. Sairus Patel, 22 May 2018

One of the showiest trees when in bloom, rivaling the related jacaranda, our pink trumpet tree is the only known example of its species on the Peninsula and perhaps in the Bay Area. It is much more commonly grown in Southern California. Ours was planted in the lawn at Harmony House on Lomita Drive in the 1990s; the adjacent building has likely helped protect it from frost.

The palmately compound leaves are arranged oppositely; each leaf usually has 5 leaflets, though 7 are possible (hepta-phyllus means seven-leaved). Clusters of bright pink flowers, faintly lavender-tinged, tubular and with yellow throats, adorn the leafless crown in May. The elongated, pod-like fruit capsules are rarely set in California.

The species has long been misidentified in California as Tabebuia impetiginosa – hence the cozy “pink tab” moniker among its fans – now treated as Handroanthus impetiginosus. But its toothed leaflet margins easily distinguish it from that much rarer species, which has smooth-margined leaflets and can also grow taller. In addition, the stalk of its terminal leaflet is about as long as, or longer than, the leaflet is wide; in H. impetiginosus, it is shorter than the leaflet’s width.

Handroanthus heptaphyllus leaf, flower. John Rawlings, ca. 2005