REVISION OF THE NATURAL ORDER BIGNONIACEX. 23 
“This plant," writes Mr. Miers, “ was found by my son in travelling 
across the country inland from Maeahé, a small port in the province of 
Rio de Janeiro, in lat. 22° 20° S.. . «T have also the closely allied T. 
rosafolia, collected. by Mathews in Chachapoyas, on the eastern slope 
of the Peruvian Andes, near the main tributary of the Marañon, far in 
the interior, and at a considerable elevation, and therefore not in the 
"least degree to be suspected of being introduced. from Africa. This 
confirms my belief that my plant from Brazil is a truly indigenous 
species.” The occurrence of T. Capensis in the West Indies is restricted 
to the island of Dominica, where Imray collected a specimen, pre- 
served in Sir William J. Hooker’s herbarium. I have seen no other 
West Indian specimens, and am inclined to think that Imray’s plant, 
even if it should be apparently wild, must be a fugitive of some garden. 
In the East Indies, the species under consideration was collected at 
Madras by G. Thomson, and at Mercara by Hohenacker, but in both 
places it has become merely naturalized, as Tecoma stans and a few 
other Bignoniacee have also become in various parts of tropical Asia. 
In Delagoa Bay, it was gathered by Peters, probably also naturalized, 
and from the Cape of Good Hope we have it from almost every collec- 
tor; whilst in the gardens about the Mediterranean it is one of the com- 
monest plants, and often escapes from them. 
At first sight it would appear that the question respecting the native 
country could easily be settled by assuming the species to be endemic 
to both Africa and America, were it not opposed. to the fact that all 
Bignoniacee, notwithstanding their winged seeds, have. a limited geo- 
graphical distribution, and that no species, as far as we know, has been 
claimed as a citizen of both hemispheres. We should therefore be 
compelled to assume in this case an exception to that rule, and ignore 
all the arguments that tend in a different direction; for if we consider 
that the two nearest allies of Tecomaria Capensis are genuine members 
of the American Flora, that T. Capensis has been found wild in portions 
of America inhabited by them, and that the native country of no known 
Bignoniacea is extended over both hemispheres, we can scareely escape 
the conclusion that Tecomaria Capensis 1s a native of South America, 
and is only naturalized in South Africa and Asia. 
