Wild Flowers East of the Rockies 321 



BIGNONIA FAMILY (Bignoniaceae.) 



A small family of woody plants having two-parted 

 calyces and tubular, five-lobed corollas, the lobes 

 somewhat irregular, the lower one usually being 

 the largest. 



TRUMPET CREEPER (Tecoma radicans) is an ex- 

 ceedingly beautiful woody vine having a southern dis- 

 position, in fact all the members of this family are 

 rather tropical in their habits. 



Audubon in his plate of the Ruby-throated Hum- 

 mingbirds shows them about a cluster of flowers of 

 this vine. His choice was well made for it is one of 

 the favorites with these tiny birds. I have spent 

 hours, in Virginia, in watching these beautiful crea- 

 tures hovering, with whirring wings, at the door of 

 each blossom in turn. In order to reach the nectar 

 at the base of the long tube he has to force himself 

 well into the flower so that it conceals his head and 

 shoulders. 



The stem of this species grows from 20 to 40 feet 

 long and is either prostrate or climbing. Sometimes 

 it extends over the ground, climbing over the bushes 

 that may be in its path, and again it may take an up- 

 ward course and climb the .trunks and branches of 

 small trees. As it is a hardy plant it is often seen in 

 cultivation and is used to decorate porches in the 

 North. 



The flowers are trumpet-shaped, red within and 

 tawny or orange on the outside of the tube. They 

 grow in terminal clusters of two to nine blossoms, 

 each in a cup-shaped, two-parted calyx. The corolla 

 is about 2% inches long and flares into five rounded 

 lobes. Four anther-bearing stamens and a pistil are 

 in the upper part of the tube. The leaves grow op- 

 positely on the stem and are each composed of 7 to 

 11 ovate, toothed leaflets. We find this vine from N. 

 J. to la. and southwards. 



21 



