168 LETTER XLII. 



The other trees of the Tribe are, with the exception 

 of Jacaranda, with their airy, graceful, fern-like foliage, 

 unknown in Europe in a living state ; they inhabit 

 the forests of India and America. 



The Rooting Trumpct-jiower (Bignonia radicans), 

 is so very common, that there is hardly a vil- 

 lage in England where some garden does not 

 contain it. We will, therefore, select it for study. 

 Mr. Elliot tells us, that it is common in the 

 damp rich soil of Carolina, " climbing over build- 

 ings and the loftiest trees, throwdng out radicles all 

 along the stem, by which it attaches itself firmly 

 to walls, fences, and the bark of trees." In this 

 country it is much less vigorous, owing no doubt to 

 the greater coldness and dryness of our climate. It 

 has opposite pinnated leaves, the leaflets of which are 

 ovate, taper-pointed, and sawed (P/a^e XLIII. '-2. Jig. 

 1.). Its flowers, of the richest brown-red or blood-red, 

 and of a fleshy consistence, grow in clusters from the 

 ends of short stiff peduncles. The calyx is a fleshy 

 cup, divided into five sharp, somewhat triangular 

 teeth. The corolla is funnel-shaped, between two and 

 three inches long, with a border divided into five 

 roundish, rather unequal lobes. Five stamens spring 

 from the tube of the corolla ; of these, two are longer 

 than two others, all four being furnished with diverg- 

 ing sharp-pointed anthers, and the fifth (^fig. 2. a.) 

 is merely a rudimentary tooth, analogous to what you 

 find in the flower of a Pentstemon. The ovary is 

 seated upon a thick, yellow, fleshy cushion or disk 

 {fig. 3. «.), and consists of two cells, containing many 



