Jacaranda is a genus of 49 species of flowering plants in the family Bignoniaceae, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas. The generic name is also used as the common name. The species Jacaranda mimosifolia has achieved a cosmopolitan distribution due to introductions, to the extent that it has entered popular culture. It can be found growing wild in Central America, the Caribbean, Spain, southern and northern Africa, China, and Australia. Etymology The name is of South American (more specifically Tupi-Guarani) origin, meaning fragrant. The word jacaranda was described in A supplement to Mr. Chambers's Cyclopædia, 1st ed., (1753) as "a name given by some authors to the tree the wood of which is the log-wood, used in dyeing and medicine" and as being of Tupi-Guarani origin, by way of Portuguese. Although not consistent with the Guarani source, one common pronunciation of the name in English is given by . Description The species are shrubs to large trees ranging in size from tall. The leaves are bipinnate in most species, pinnate or simple in a few species. The flowers are produced in conspicuous large panicles, each flower with a five-lobed blue to purple-blue corolla; a few species have white flowers. The fruit is an oblong to oval flattened capsule containing numerous slender seeds. The genus differs from other genera in the Bignoniaceae in having a staminode that is longer than the stamens, tricolpate pollen, and a chromosome number of 18. Taxonomy The genus is divided into two sections, sect. Monolobos and sect. Dilobos DC., based on the number of thecae on the anthers. Sect. Monolobos has 18 species and is found primarily in western South America, Central America, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Sect. Dilobos, which is believed to be the primitive form, has 31 species and is found primarily in southeastern Brazil including the Paraná River valley. The anatomy of the wood in the two sections also differs. Although usually treated in sect. Monolobos, J. copaia differs somewhat from all other members of the genus and may be intermediate between the two sections (Dos Santos & Miller 1997). Species Sect. Monolobos Jacaranda acutifolia Bonpl. Jacaranda arborea Urb. Jacaranda brasiliana (Lam.) Pers. Jacaranda caerulea (L.) J.St.-Hil. Jacaranda caucana Pittier Jacaranda copaia (Aubl.) D.Don Jacaranda cowellii Britton & P.Wilson Jacaranda cuspidifolia Mart. ex DC. Jacaranda decurrens Cham. Jacaranda ekmanii Alain Jacaranda hesperia Dugand. Jacaranda mimosifolia D.Don Jacaranda obtusifolia Humboldt &