198 



BIGNONIACEAE. 



[Vol. III. 



Family 30. BIGNONIACEAE Pers. Syn. 2: 168. 1807. 

 Trumpet- creeper Family. 

 Trees, shrubs or woody vines, a few exotic species herbs, with opposite 

 (rarely alternate) compound or simple leaves, and mostly large and showy, clus- 

 tered terminal or axillary, more or less irregular flowers. Calyx inferior, gamo- 

 sepalous. Corolla gamopetalous, funnelform, campanulate, or tubular, 5-lobed, 

 somewhat 2 -lipped, at least in the bud. Anther-bearing stamens 2 or 4, in- 

 serted on the tube of the corolla and alternate with its lobes; anthers 2-celled, 

 the sacs longitudinally dehiscent. Disk annular or cup-like. Ovary sessile or 

 stalked, mostly 2-celled; placentae parietal, or on the partition-wall of the ovary; 

 ovules very numerous, horizontal, anatropous; style slender; stigma terminal, 

 2-lobed. Capsule 2-valved, loculicidally, septifragally or septicidally dehiscent. 

 Seeds flat, transverse, winged in our genera; endosperm none; cotyledons broad 

 and flat, emarginate or 2-lobed; radicle short, straight. 



About 60 genera and 500 species of wide geographic distribution in tropical regions, a few in the 

 north and south temperate zones. 

 Leaves compound; anther-bearing stamens 4; our species vines. 



Calyx-limb undulate; capsule flattened parallel with its partition-wall. 1. Bignonia. 



Calyx 5-toothed; capsule compressed at right angles to its partition-wall. 2. Tecoma. 



I,eaves simple; anther- bearing stamens mostly 2; trees. 3. Catalpa. 



i. BIGNONIA L. Sp. PI. 633. 1753. 



Woody vines, with opposite 2-3-foliolate leaves, the terminal leaflet usually reduced to a 

 tendril (some tropical species with decompound or even simple leaves), and large flowers in 

 axillary cymes or terminal panicles. Calyx campanulate, the limb merely undulate, truncate 

 or slightly 5-toothed. Tube of the corolla much expanded above the calyx, the limb some- 

 what 2-lipped, 5-lobed, the lobes rounded. Anther-bearing stamens 4, didynamous, included, 

 inserted near the base of the corolla; anther-sacs glabrous, divergent. Capsule linear, flat- 

 tened parallel with the thin partition, septifragally dehiscent, the margins of the valves more 

 or less thickened. Seeds in 1 or 2 rows on both margins of the partition, winged, much 

 broader than high, the wing entire, or erose at the end. [Named after the Abbe Biguon, 

 1662-1743, librarian to Louis XV.] 



About 150 species, natives of America. The following'is the only one known in the United States. 



i. Bignonia crucigera L. Tendrilled 

 Trumpet-flower. Cross-vine. (Fig. 3365.) 



Bignonia crucigera L. Sp. PI. 624. 1753. 

 Bignonia capreolala L. loc. cit. 1753. 



A glabrous woody vine, often climbing to the 

 height of 4o-6o, the stems sometimes 4 / in diam- 

 eter, exhibiting a conspicuous cross in the trans- 

 verse section. Leaves petioled, commonly with 

 small simple stipule-like ones in their axils, 2-folio- 

 late, terminated by a branched tendril; leaflets 

 stalked, oblong or ovate, entire, acute or acuminate 

 at the apex, cordate at the base, pinnately veined, 

 3 / -7 / long; cymes numerous, short-peduncled, 2-5- 

 flowered; pedicels i / -2 / long; calyx membranous; 

 corolla 2' long, orange and puberulent without, 

 yellow within; capsule 5 / -7 / long, 8 // -io // broad, 

 very flat, each valve longitudinally i-nerved; seeds 

 broadly winged laterally, narrowly winged above 

 and below, \]/ 2 ' broad. 



In moist woods, Virginia to Florida and Louisiana, 

 north to Ohio and southern Illinois. Called also Quar- 

 ter Vine. April-June. 



2. TECOMA Juss. Gen. 139. 1789. 

 Climbing woody vines with aerial rootlets, or erect shrubs, with opposite pinnately 

 compound or sometimes simple leaves, and large showy red or orange flowers, in terminal 

 corymbs, racemes, or panicles. Calyx tubular-campanulate, somewdiat unequally 5-toothed. 

 Corolla-tube elongated, enlarged above the calyx, narrowly campanulate, the limb slightly 

 2-lipped, 5-lobed, the lobes spreading. Anther- bearing stamens 4, didynamous, ascending 

 under the upper lip; anther-sacs divergent, glabrous or slightly pubescent. Capsule 

 elongated, slightly compressed at right-angles to the partition, loculicidally and septicidally 

 dehiscent. Seeds in 1, 2 or several rows on each side of the margins of the partition, 

 winged, the wing translucent. [From the Aztec name Tecomaxochitl.] 



