22 REVISION OF THE NATURAL ODERK BIGNONIACE:E. 
Australia, spiny Cactuses and Agaves of America, English Oaks, and 
Scotch Firs, accompanied by a long train of weeds bent upon the 
spread of cosmopolitan principles, and a numerous list of cultivated 
plants, endeavour to establish themselves in every direction, and deprive 
the original inhabitants of their legitimate inheritance. In most cases 
there would be no difficulty to prove from historical and geographical 
records the origin of these foreign elements, but in some it is ex- 
tremely difficult to decide what is foreign and what native. To the 
latter category belongs Tecomaria Capensis, Fenzl,— Bignonia Capensis, 
Thunb., a well-known garden plant. At present it is found in South 
Africa, the East and West Indies, and Brazil; and the question now 
arises, which of these is to be regarded as its native country? Thunberg, 
who first introduced it into science, mentions it in his * Prodromus; 
but not in his ‘Flora Capensis Whether in the latter work it was 
omitted by mistake or on purpose (perhaps because the author had be- 
come convinced that it was not a Cape plant?) cannot, in the absence 
of every allusion to the fact, now be decided. In order to find out 
its real native country, no other means are left but to look for its 
nearest allies, and these do present themselves, not in Rhigozum tricho- 
tomum and R. obovatum or Catophractes Alexandri, the only three Big- 
noniacee inhabiting Southern Africa, but in two species of Tecomaria 
indigenous to the lower portion of South America, viz. T. fulva (=By- 
nonia fulva, Cav.) and T. rosefolia (=T. azaleaflora, H. B. K., Bigno- 
nia tenuiflora, De Cand.). Both share with Zecomaria Capensis the 
tubular corolla, the exserted stamens and styles, and the habit, for T. 
C ipensis is not a climber, as is often stated, but an erect shrub. Now, 
as all species of Tecoma and allied genera with erect stem and digi- 
tate and imparipinnate leaves are confined to America, we are not jus- 
tified in assuming T. Capensis to be an exception; and what would be 
calculated to strengthen this argument is the fact that the plant has 
been found wild in Brazil, so that if we had first received it from there, 
we should in all probability never have entertained any doubt about its 
native country, 
Some years ago, when examining the herbarium of my learned. friend 
Mr. Miers, I observed a plant from Brazil which I took for 7. Capensis. 
Afterwards, when examining the genus to which it belongs more 
closely, I obtained a specimen for comparison, and found it perfectly 
dentical with the Tecoma Capensis. 
Cir V RT EE 
