6 TECOMA RADICANS. — TRUMPET-FLOWER. 



Solanum {2.m\\y—Solandra guttata. In botany, however, it is 

 not usual to alter names, though given in mistake ; for a name 

 that has no meaning or application is just as good as any other, 

 and it is better to endure, these occasional slips in intention, than 

 to increase lists of synonyms. 



The botanical difference between Tecoma and Bignonia, as 

 defined by Jussieu, is chiefly in the seed vessel. In Bignonia 

 the valves are parallel with the partition which divides the 

 capsule, while in Tecoma they are contrary to the partition. The 

 natural order receives its name from Bignonia, and in this re- 

 lation our Trumpet-flower affords an interesting study; and it 

 will show that even what are called natural orders or great 

 families of plants are often divided by what may be regarded as 

 very slender threads. If we compare this flower with some in 

 other allied orders — say, for instance, Mimtdus or Pentstemon 

 of the order Scrophulariacecr, the student will find numerous 

 points of resemblance. In many flowers we find a coincidence 

 in the number of the floral parts. If, for instance, we find a 

 flower of five sepals, we look for five petals, five (or possibly 

 ten) stamens, and it may be a pistil with five divisions. If there 

 be a less number in any of these series, we look for abortion or 

 consolidation. Bignonia has a five-parted calyx, a five-parted 

 corolla, but we find only four perfect stamens. Theoretical 

 science tells us there should be five, and on looking for this 

 number we can trace it in the flower. We may note the same 

 abortion of parts in some of the Sci'opJmlarice, and in Pentstemon 

 the abortive one is so far developed as to suggest the botanical 

 name. Again we find the pistil terminated by two thin lobes, 

 and it is the same in Mimidus, and then, also as in Mimidus, 

 these lobes when expanded close together when touched. Indeed 

 botanists recognize few very important divisions between these 

 two great orders, except that in Bignoniacea: the seed has no 

 albumen, and thus has to send a roodet at once into the earth on 

 the germination of the seed in quest of food ; while in Mimulus 

 the embryo is enclosed in albumen on which the plantlet can feed 

 till full roots are formed. 



