1 98 



BIGNONIACEAE. 



[Vol. III. 



Family 30. 



Xj£ctud 



I'- 



BIGNONIACEAE Pers. Syn. 2: 168. 1807. 



TRUMPETCREErliR FAMILY. 



Trees, shrubs or woody vines, a few exotic species herbs, with opposite 

 (rarely alternate) compound or simple leaves, and mostly large and showy, clus- 

 tered terminal or axillary, more or less irregular flowers. Calyx inferior, gamo- 

 sepalous. Corolla gamopetalous, funnelform, campanulate, or tubular, 5-lobed, 

 somewhat 2-lipped, at least in the bud. Anther-bearing stamens 2 or 4, in- 

 serted on the tube of the corolla and alternate with its lobes; anthers 2-celled, 

 the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Disk annular or cup-like. Ovary .sessile or 

 stalked, 'mostly 2-celled; placentae parietal, or on the partition-wall of the ovary; 

 ovules very numerous, horizontal, anatropous; stj'le slender; stigma terminal, 

 2-lobed. Capsule 2-valved, loculicidally, septifragally or septicidally dehiscent. 

 Seeds flat, transverse, winged in our genera; endosperm none; cotyledons broad 

 and flat, emarginate or 2-lobed; radicle .short, straight. 



.\bout6o frenera and 500 species of wide geographic distribution in tropical regions, a few in the 

 north and south temperate zones. 

 I^eaves compound; anther-bearing stamens 4; our species vines. 



Calyx-limb undulate; capsule flattened parallel with its partition-wall. i. Bignonia. 



Calyx s-toothed; capsule compressed at right angles to its partition-wall. 2. Tecoma. 



Leaves simple; anther-bearing stamens mostly 2; trees. 3. Calalpa. 



I. BIGNONIA L. Sp. PI. 633. 1753. 



Woody vines, with opposite 2-3-foliolate leaves, the terminal leaflet usually reduced to a 

 tendril (some tropical species with deconipouud or even simple leaves), and large flowers in 

 axillary cymes or terminal panicles. Calyx campanulate, the limb merely undulate, truncate 

 or slightly 5-toothed. Tube of the corolla much expanded above the calyx, the limb some- 

 what 2-lipped. 5-lobed, the lobes rounded. Anther-bearing stamens 4, didyuamous, iucluded, 

 inserted near the base of the corolla; anther-sacs glabrous, divergent. Capsule linear, flat- 

 tened parallel with the thin partition, septifragally dehiscent, the margins of the valves more 

 or less thickened. Seeds in i or 2 rows on both margins of the partition, winged, much 

 broader than high, the wing entire, or erose at the end. [Named after the .\bbe Biguon, 

 1662-174,^, librarian to Louis XV.] 



About i5ospecies, natives of .\merica. The followiug'is the only one known in the United States. 



I. Bignonia crucigera L. Tendrilled 

 Trumpet- flower. Cros.s-vine. (Fig. 3365.) 



Iiiirnonia crucigera L. Sp. PI. 624. 175,3. 

 Bignonia capreolata L. loc. cit. 1753. 



A glabrous woody vine, often climbing to the 

 height of 40°-6o°, the stems sometimes 4' in diam- 

 eter, exhibiting a conspicuous cross in the trans- 

 verse section. Leaves petioled, commonly with 

 small simple stipule-like ones in their axils, 2- folio- 

 late, terminated by a branched tendril; leaflets 

 stalked, oblong or ovate, entire, acute or acuminate 

 at the apex, cordate at the base, pinnately veined, 

 3'-7' long; cymes numerous, short-peduncled, 2-5- 

 flowered; pedicels x'-o.' long; calyx membranous; 

 corolla 2' long, orange and puberulent without, 

 yellow within; capsule 5'-7' long, S'^-io" broad, 

 very flat, each valve longitudinally i-nerved; seeds 

 broadly winged laterally, narrowly winged above 

 and below, xYz' broad. 



In moist woods, Virginia to Florida and Louisiana, 

 north to Ohio and southern Illinois. Called also Quar- 

 ter Vine. April-June. 



2. TECOMA Juss. Gen. 139. 1789. 

 Climbing woody vines with aerial rootlets, or erect shrubs, with opposite pinnately 

 compound or sometimes simple leaves, and large showj- red or orange flowers, in terminal 

 corymbs, racemes, or panicles. Calyx tubular.campauulate, somewhat unequally 5-toothed. 

 Corolla-tube elongated, enlarged above the calyx, narrowly campanulate, the limb slightly 

 2-lipped, 5-lobed, the lobes spreading, .\nther- bearing stamens 4, didynamous, ascending 

 under the upper lip; anther-sacs divergent, glabrous or slightlj- pubescent. Capsule 

 elongated, slightly compressed at right-angles to the partition, loculicidally and septicidally 

 dehiscent. vSeeds in i, 2 or several rows on each side of the margins of the partition, 

 winged, the wing translucent. [From the Aztec name Tccomaxochitl.] 



