TRUMPET-VINE ( Trumpct-CrccpcrJ 



Campsis radicans (L.j Seem. 



Summer 



Bottomland vvoods 

 sands, roadsides 



Tlio river forc^^t is dark and .soniotiine.< eerie and 

 hroodiiiiT in tlie lialf liirlit wliicii find? its way 

 tlrrou^h tlio dense lealv eanopy held hi^di above 

 the fj^roiiiid. The ground is covered in sunnner 

 with a low junfjle of stinging nettles and jewel-weed with a scattering of 

 other i)Iants which grow in the hard, caked ground. The tnn^s are ni.istly 

 tall — the giant while-armed syi-ainon>s, the elegant elms, the broad and 

 leafy silver mai)les: these are the tall tree< ol the hottondands. Some- 

 times there are pecan trees along the Illinois and the Missi.^sippi. Below 

 them as a midilh^ strata arc ])a|)nw trees, wahdo-. Iil,u!dri'iiut>. redhuds, 

 spicebusli. 



And from the tall tiiink> of the tree- there hang the t reiiieiidous 

 festoons of trumpet-vine, illuminator of darkness. 



The vine st^irts up Irom a deej), wo»Kly root anil sends up at first 

 weak green vines, in the i)assing of years, however, the stem becomes 

 woody and trunk-like, from which each year's new growth si)rings, grows 

 woody, and. matures. The stem twines firmly ainund trix>s and hangs 

 great green draperit^^ of c!)m|)oun(l leaves. Among them shine the bright 

 red-orange trumpet ilowers which aic visited by iunnniingbirds all sum- 

 mer long. The seeds form in large l)ean-like pods which in winter split 

 lengthwise and Kt the Hat. ])aper-winged seeds flutter into the woods. 

 There are several manners of growth among the trumpet-vines, only 

 one species of which is rec-egnized for Illinois. Some may grow to great 

 heights in forest trees. Others never climb l)ut sprawl over undergrowth 

 and do not put out much length of vine. In open lowlands, along fences, 

 in open situations, the vine is more woixly and forms a bush. 



no 



