Approximately 67 species (see text) Tabebuia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae.

The ants are attracted to the plants by special extra-floral nectar glands on at the apex of the petioles.

The former genus and polyphyletic group of 99 species described by Gentry in 1992 is now usually referred to as "Tabebuia sensu lato".

Some recently used names in Tabebuia that were not recognized by Gentry are not listed in the third column below because they apply to species that are now in Handroanthus.

[10] Tabebuia is an abbreviation of "tacyba bebuya", a Tupi name meaning "ant wood".

[15] Britton revived the concept of Tabebuia that had been originated in 1876 by Bentham and Hooker, consisting of species with either simple or palmately compound leaves.

[17] These species had been placed in Cybistax by Russell J. Seibert in 1940,[18] but were returned to Tabebuia by Alwyn H. Gentry in 1992.

[19] Gentry did not agree with the segregation of Handroanthus from Tabebuia and warned against "succumbing to further paroxysms of unwarranted splitting".

In 2007, a molecular phylogenetic study found Handroanthus to be closer to a certain group of four genera than to Tabebuia.

This result had only weak statistical support, but Roseodendron clearly did not group with the remainder of Tabebuia.

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 sampled species in a large polytomy.

[8] Tabebuia is distinguished from Handroanthus by wood that is not especially hard or heavy, and not abruptly divided into heartwood and sapwood.

Tabebuia rosea (including T. pentaphylla) is an important timber tree of tropical America.

Its roots produce a soft and spongy wood that is used for floats, razor strops, and the inner soles of shoes.

[25] The nectar of Tabebuia flowers is an important food source for several species of bees and hummingbirds.