BIGNONIACEAE 315 



BIGNONIACEAE. Trumpet-Crei-pEr Family. 



About 100 genera and 600 species, mostly tropical trees and 

 vines, many of them ornamental. 



BIGNONIA, Linnaeus. 

 Bignonia crucigera, L. (B. capvcolata, L.) Cross-vine. 



An evergreen vine, sometimes an inch in diameter, climbing 

 high up into trees by means of tendrils. The stem is divided 

 lengthwise nearly to the middle into four equal segments, sepa- 

 rated by a thin layer of what appears to be a part of the bark ; 

 and that is what gives the plant its name. Flowers rather large 

 and leathery, dark red with yellow border, in April ; fruit a flat 

 pendulous pod, full of winged seeds, much less abundant than the 

 flowers. 



Sometimes cultivated for ornament, like some of its more 

 showy tropical relatives. The stems used to be cut into short 

 lengths and smoked by boys, their porosity being the chief adap- 

 tation for this purpose. 



Grows on bluffs, in bottoms, hammocks, and other places 

 pretty well protected from fire. Common throughout the state 

 except perhaps in regions 4, 14 and 15. It seems to climb Pinus 

 Tacda oftener than any other tree, but perhaps only because that 

 is our commonest tree. 



TECOMA, Juss. The Trumpet-Creepers. 



Tecoma radicans (L.) DC. (Cow-itch.*) 



A vine, climbing by means of rootlets, with porous stems 

 sometimes as much as four inches thick, pale shreddy bark, com- 

 pound deciduous leaves, and large leathery trumpet-shaped red 

 flowers in summer. Often cultivated for ornament, and hardy as 

 far north as New England. 



Widely distributed over the state, but more as a weed in fields 

 and along roadsides than as a native. Its principal natural habitats 

 seem to be flatwoods and bottoms. It is rare or absent in some of 

 the regions with poorest soil, such as 2A, 4, 6B, 13 and 15. 



*This is a very inappropriate name, but seems to be the usual designa- 

 tion in Georgia at least. 



