THE LARGE FLOWERED TECOMA. 



507 



odor which rises from the manure. It has j for the time it is occupied by them, quite 

 struck me since, that something; of the same an atmosphere of their own, which the 

 effect may follow from making a swine delicate nerves of the curculio may not be 



yard of a small stone fruit orchard. I find 

 that a dozen hogs, kept in a space large 

 enough for twenty or thirty trees, give it, 



able to bear. Respectfully thy friend. 

 A Pennsylvania Subscriber. 



PhOadtfplhia, 4fA mo., 1843. 



THE LARGE FLOWERED TECOMA. 



One of the most showy and magnificent of 

 all our climbing shrubs, is the Large- 

 flowered Tecoma, [Tecoma grandifiora,] a 

 native of China and Japan, but now to be 

 found in many gardens in this country. 



This plant closely resembles, in its foli- 

 age and manner of growth, the well known 

 Trumpet flower or Trumpet creeper, [Te 

 coma radicans,*] a native of the southern 

 states, whose large clusters of reddish-or- 

 ange coloured, trumpet shaped flowers are 

 produced in profusion ail the latter part of 

 the summer. 



But the Tecoma grandifiora is a much 

 more showy and beautiful plant than the 

 old species. In the growth of tlie wood, it 

 is rather more slender, and the leaves more 

 coarsely serrated than those of B. radicans. 

 The vine has the same habit of attaching 

 itself firmly to a wall, or building of stone, 

 brick, or wood, or to the trunk of a tree 

 within its reach, by the numerous small air- 

 rootlets which it sends out from the inner 

 side of its young shoots. 



In the blossoms of the Tecoma grandifio- 

 ra, however, lies its peculiar beauty. These 

 are produced, in a great profusion of clus- 

 ters, in July and August, so as to give the 

 whole plant an exceedingly gay and lively 

 appearance. They are not long and tubu- 



• Bignonia radicans, oC LiNjj^us and the older botanisls. 

 Jdssiei; has very properly Reparaled ihe old genus, Bignonia, 

 into two ; gi'/mg ihe nnm« Tecoma t» the two sjpeoiei for- 

 merly known as B. radicans and B. grandijio'a. 



lar, like those of the common trumpet flow- 

 er, but somewhat cup-shaped, and about a 

 third larger than is represented in the an- 

 nexed cut. The colour is beautifully va- 

 ried ; the outside being a rich pure orange 

 colour, and the inside a rich orange-scarlet, 

 marked with brighter streaks. These gav 

 clusters open their blossoms in succession, 

 so as to keep up a brilliant appearance for 

 a long time ; and we are acquainted with 

 no climbing shrub, except the Chinese Wis- 

 taria, which at all vies in elegance or bril- 

 liancy of effect, in the garden or pleasure 

 ground, with this, during the season of 

 its bloom. Last season we counted over 

 three hundred in bloom, at once, upon a 

 plant in our neighborhood ; and the same 

 profusive display continued for a fortnight 

 or more. 



The Tecoma grandifiora may be grown 

 with perfect ease wherever the old Trum- 

 pet flower ( T. radicans) thrives. North of 

 this it will, perhaps, require a little protec- 

 tion in winter, such as a laj^er of straw tied 

 over the larger shoots, or some branches of 

 evergreens laid against them at the ap- 

 proach of winter. A northern site will 

 also be found the better one at the north 

 wherever there is doubt of its hardiness ; 

 since the temperature will, in such a site, 

 be more uniform and less injurious than in 

 a southern aspect. Wherever the Isabella 

 grape ripens, this handsome climbing shrub 



