Stans

• The vast majority of esperanza plants are taxonomically placed in the naturally occurring variety stans (Tacoma stans var. stans), which grows into a small, irregular and floppy tree up to 25 feet tall. The woody trunk is slim and beige with many awkwardly angled and curving branches that create a canopy up to 12 feet wide. Leaves are glossy green with jagged edges. The bright yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers appear on branch tips anytime from late winter to late summer. They small faintly of vanilla. After pollination by insects and an occasional hummingbird, numerous long seed pods form that ripen to dark brown.
  
  

Angustata

• The natural variety angustata (Tecoma stans var. angustata) grows only in the Chihuahuan Desert of western Texas, southern New Mexico and Arizona and into northernmost Mexico. It is always deciduous in winter and is a bit more cold tolerant, growing like an herbaceous perennial in USDA Zone 7b. Sometimes this variety is commonly called the Arizona or Texas esperanza. It matures as a small to large shrub up to 10 feet tall. The yellow flowers are just as showy but slightly smaller in size compared to variety stans. Leaves are slightly smaller, too.
  
  

Velutina

• In the drier and hotter locations across Central and South America, such as in localized deserts, the variety velutina (Tecoma stans var. velutina) grows. Sometimes called the velvety esperanza, it grows as a large shrub with open branches up to 20 feet tall. Its leaves are softly hairy and lighter green. and the individual leaflets comprising each compound leaf are smooth, not jagged edged. The flower clusters are larger and fuller in size than either varieties stans or angustata. Seed pods are produced in great numbers.
  
  

Sambucifolia

• Originally thought to only grow in Peru, eastern Brazil and Argentina, the elderleaf esperanza (Tecoma stans var. sambucifolia) is found throughout South America, but not as frequently as variety stans. Also growing 12 to 30 feet tall and about 10 feet wide, the canopy of the elderleaf esperanza looks upright to thick, depending on how many leaves exist. The longer leaflets with minute teeth mimic the look of elderberry shrubs (Sambucus spp.). Yellow flowers occur in clusters followed by seed pods, just like with other esperanza varieties.