248 BIGNONIACEAE 



BIGNONIA CAPREOLATA Linnaeus 

 Crossvine 



The Crossvine, fig. 65, is a long, slender vine, which climbs 

 over trees of great height and is provided with an extensive 

 underground root system. The rough bark on old stems is 

 scaly and exfoliates lengthwise. The branchlets are smooth 

 and bear opposite, compound leaves, each usually with 2 small, 

 stipule-like leaves in its axil. The short petiole is pubescent 

 above and usually is prolonged between the 2 leaflets into a 

 tendril, which subdivides by threes and ends in disks. The leaf- 

 lets are oblong to ovate, 3 to 8 inches long, and Ij/^ to 6 inches 

 wide, entire, often somewhat wavy margined, short or long point- 

 ed at the apex, and generally cordate or obtuse at the base. The 

 surface is dark green and smooth above and smooth beneath. 



The flowers, which appear through May, are borne on gla- 

 brous pedicels in clusters of 3 to 5 in the axils of leaves. The 

 showy mahogany-red or deep orange, trumpet-shaped flowers 

 are often 2 or more inches long. The fruit is a large, flat, 

 2-celled capsule frequently 5 to 7 inches long and Y^ to 1 inch 

 wide, which contains many flat, winged seeds measuring, in- 

 cluding the wings, as much as li/^ inches long. 



Distribution. — The Crossvine, a vine of low, moist woods, 

 ranges from southern Virginia to southern Illinois and south 

 to Florida and Louisiana. In Illinois, its distribution is entirely 

 southern and follows the valleys of the Wabash, Ohio and Mis- 

 sissippi rivers from Wabash County southward around the 

 lower end of the state, south of the Ozarks, and north again 

 at least as far as St. Clair County. 



CAMPSIS Loureiro 

 The Trumpetcreepers 



The trumpetcreepers are woody vines, which twine or climb 

 by aerial rootlets and bear opposite, pinnately compound leaves 

 with toothed leaflets and clustered, often paniculate, perfect 

 flowers. The calyx is short, tubular and 5-lobed, and the corolla 

 is long, funnel-shaped, 5-lobed and somewhat 2-lIpped. There 

 are 4 stamens included within the corolla, and the fruit is a 

 firm, leathery capsule flattened crosswise to the partition, which 

 contains numerous winged seeds. 



