---
title: Tecoma stans or Cape Honeysuckle — what is the difference?
url: https://heavenlyplants.ae/compare/tecoma-stans-vs-cape-honeysuckle
updated: 2026-09-16
type: comparison
---

# Tecoma stans or Cape Honeysuckle — what is the difference?

**Verdict:** They are different plants sold under the same nickname. Tecoma stans grows upright into a small yellow-flowered tree of 3–5m. Tecoma capensis (Cape honeysuckle) stays a sprawling orange-flowered shrub used as an informal hedge. Choose by the shape you need, not the name on the label.

Walk into almost any UAE nursery and ask for tecoma and you may be handed either of these. They share a genus and a common nickname, and they do completely different jobs in a garden.
Both flower heavily from autumn through spring, both take full sun and heat, and both respond to a hard cut in September. Everything else about them differs.

## Choose Tecoma stans if you want a small flowering tree

It grows upright and can be trained to a single or multi-stem tree of 3–5 metres, carrying clusters of bright yellow trumpets from autumn deep into the heat. Use it as a specimen in a courtyard, along a boundary, or anywhere you want height and flower without committing to a full-size shade tree. Supplied at 30-litre, it often flowers in its first season.

## Choose Cape Honeysuckle if you want a flowering shrub or hedge

Tecoma capensis sprawls rather than climbs and stays a shrub, throwing arching sprays of orange trumpet flowers from autumn to spring. It is the better plant for an informal flowering hedge, for a large pot, or for softening a wall. Cut it back hard in September and it comes back denser and flowers heavier.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is Tecoma stans the same as yellow bells?

Yes — Tecoma stans is sold as yellow bells, yellow trumpetbush and sometimes just 'yellow tecoma' in the UAE. The orange plant sold alongside it is Tecoma capensis, correctly called Cape honeysuckle, which is a different species with a different growth habit.

### Are tecoma plants toxic to pets?

The seed pods of Tecoma stans cause stomach upset if a dog eats them, so it is worth clearing fallen pods from a lawn. Neither species is in the severe-toxicity class of yellow oleander or sago palm, but neither is a plant to let an animal chew.