Bignoniaceae (/bɪɡˌnoʊniˈeɪsiiː/)[3] is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales commonly known as the bignonias or trumpet vines.

[6] The family includes many lianas, climbing by tendrils, by twining, or rarely, by aerial roots.

The largest tribe in the family, called Bignonieae, consists mostly of lianas and is noted for its unique wood anatomy.

Bignoniaceae are most noted for ornamentals, such as Jacaranda, Tabebuia and Spathodea, grown for their conspicuous, tubular flowers.

Since that time, molecular phylogenetic studies have greatly clarified relationships within the family, and the number of accepted genera is now between 80 and 85.

The ovary is superior, usually surrounded by a nectary disk, composed of two carpels, bilocular and with a septum, except unilocular in Tourrettia and quadrilocular in Eccremocarpus.

The family Bignoniaceae was first validly published in the botanical literature (as Bignonieae) by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789 in his classic work, Genera Plantarum.

[22] Karl Moritz Schumann wrote a monograph on Bignoniaceae in 1894 for Engler and Prantl's Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien.

[7] As the number of known species gradually increased, a great deal of confusion developed over the delimitation of genera.

[23] In the APG IV system of classification for flowering plants, Bignoniaceae is one of the 24 families in the order Lamiales.

[25] In the 20th century, the only issues of circumscription were whether Paulowniaceae and Schlegeliaceae should be merged into Bignoniaceae, or accepted as separate families.

[4] In molecular phylogenetic analyses, Bignoniaceae has surprisingly weak bootstrap support, given its morphological coherence.

The tribe Jacarandeae (Digomphia and Jacaranda) is sister to the rest of the family, which is known as the Core Bignoniaceae.

[6] No subfamilies have been proposed for Bignoniaceae in recent taxonomy, but in 2004, Fischer et al. divided the family into seven tribes: Tourrettieae, Eccremocarpeae, Tecomeae (sensu lato), Bignonieae, Oroxyleae, Crescentieae, and Coleeae.

[27] Coleeae sensu Fischer et al. (2004) is polyphyletic because of the inclusion of Kigelia, and it is nested within the Paleotropical clade.

Jacaranda Tourrettia Eccremocarpus Argylia Campsis Tecoma Incarvillea Podranea Lamiodendron Deplanchea Campsidium Tecomanthe Pandorea Delostoma Perianthomega Neojobertia Adenocalymma Stizophyllum Manaosella Pachyptera Callichlamys Tanaecium Lundia Xylophragma Fridericia Tynanthus Cuspidaria Dolichandra Martinella Pleonotoma Bignonia Amphilophium (syn.

Distictella) Mansoa Pyrostegia Anemopaegma Oroxylum Hieris Millingtonia Nyctocalos Chilopsis Catalpa Sparattosperma Ekmanianthe Tabebuia Cybistax Godmania Zeyheria Roseodendron Handroanthus Spirotecoma Parmentiera Crescentia Amphitecna Rhigozum Catophractes Spathodea Tecomella Radermachera Kigelia Stereospermum Newbouldia Heterophragma Fernandoa Dolichandrone Markhamia Rhodocolea Phylloctenium Phyllarthron Colea In the last taxonomic revision of Bignoniaceae, 104 genera were described in The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants.

[10] A molecular phylogenetic study resolved it as sister to another South African genus, Podranea, but with only weak bootstrap support.

Twenty-five of the genera of Fischer have been subsumed into other genera as follows: Gardnerodoxa into Neojobertia; Memora into Adenocalymma; Leucocalantha into Pachyptera; Pseudocatalpa, Paragonia, Periarrabidaea, Spathicalyx, and Ceratophytum into Tanaecium; Arrabidaea and Piriadacus into Fridericia; Clytostoma, Cydista, Macranthisiphon, Mussatia, Phryganocydia, Potamoganos, Roentgenia and Saritaea into Bignonia; also Distictis, Glaziovia, Haplolophium, and Pithecoctenium into Amphilophium.

[13] Many species of Bignoniaceae have some use, either commercially or ethnobotanically, but the most important, by far, are those planted as ornamentals, especially the flowering trees.

Jacaranda, Campsis, Pyrostegia, Tabebuia, Catalpa, Roseodendron, Handroanthus and Crescentia all have species of horticultural significance, at least in warm climates.

[7][27] Several others, including Tecoma, Podranea, Pandorea, Bignonia and Mansoa are frequently grown as ornamentals, at least in certain areas of the tropics.

The winged petiole and trifoliate leaf of Crescentia alata resembles a crucifixion cross, so is sometimes planted in the Philippines as a religious symbol.

Handroanthus and the unrelated Guaiacum (Zygophyllaceae) have the hardest, heaviest, and most durable wood of the American tropics.

Paratecoma was once the most important timber tree of the Rio de Janeiro area, but relentless exploitation has brought it to the verge of extinction.

[11] Several of the rare species of Bignoniaceae produce excellent wood, but are often not recognized by lumberjacks.

[7] In northern Colombia, shavings of the stems of Dolichandra quadrivalvis are added to bait which is left overnight near the burrows of crabs.

Fridericia chica is the source of a red pigment used in the Amazon Basin for body paint and for dye in basketry.

The bark of Sparattosperma leucantha is used in Bolivia to produce a brown dye for staining cotton thread.

[11] Misidentification of plants, even by botanists, continues to be a big problem for ethnobotany, and it is especially severe for Bignoniaceae.