ered with a deep, sleet-encrusted snow ; 

 the trees are all icebound, and it must be 

 one of the most disheartening days the 

 bird world ever knows, yet just now, at 

 four o'clock, two chickadees are singing 

 their good night song outside my win- 

 dow. In a few minutes they will be 



snugly tucked away in some wayside inn, 

 some sheltered nook prepared by Mother 

 Nature, where they will sleep away one 

 more cold night, to awaken one day 

 nearer the joyous springtime. 



Caroline H. Parker. 



BEAUTIFUL VINES TO BE FOUND IN OUR WILD WOOD S 



III. 



Another beautiful vine that grows wild 

 in most of our states is the Trumpet 

 Flower, a popular name for various spe- 

 cies of Bignonia and Tecoma, which be- 

 long to the other Bignoniaaceae or Big- 

 nonia family, all of which are either 

 shrubs or woody vines. There are two 

 or three species of this family native to 

 the United States, chief among them be- 

 ing the Tecoma radicans, or what is gen- 

 erally known as the Trumpet Flower. 

 In some parts of the country it is also 

 called Trumpet Creeper. 



The word Tecoma is of Mexican ori- 

 gin and means trumpet, the only known 

 difference between the Tecoma radicans 

 and the Bignonia is a structural difi'er- 

 ence in their pods. 



We have several imported varieties of 

 both, that come from South Africa and 

 Japan, but none prettier than the Tecoma 

 radicans or Trumpet Flower, which any 

 of us can find along almost any roadside 

 or in rich, moist woods, blooming in the 

 greatest profusion in August and Sep- 

 tember. 



It is a woody vine, climbing to great 

 heights by abundant rootlets, produced 

 along the stems. Its pinnate leaves have 

 from five to eleven ovate, toothed pointed 

 leaflets. Its deep orange-red flowers 

 come in midsummer and later and grow 

 in corymbs or clusters ; its tubular corolla 

 is funnel-shaped, two or three inches 

 long, wdth five somewhat irregular lobes, 

 within which the four stamens are en- 

 closed ; its fruit is a two-celled pod, con- 

 taining numerous winged seed. 



The Trumpet Flower is found in a 

 wild state from Pennsylvania to Illinois, 

 and southward, and is very common in 



cultivation, being vigorous and perfectly 

 hardy, soon covering a large space and 

 reaching to a height of sixty feet. Bloom- 

 ing as it does in late summer, and early 

 fall when flowers are scarce, the abund- 

 ance of its great orange and scarlet flow- 

 ers make a very showy spot in a dull 

 landscape, and an especially attractive 

 bit of color, if you happen to find a vine 

 around which the ruby-throated hum- 

 mingbirds are hovering, they being very 

 partial to the nectar from its flowers. 



It is a beautiful vine to drape a tree 

 that is in itself not very pleasing, or to 

 cover brick or stone outbuildings. 



Its faults, and it is a shame to discover 

 faults in anything so beautiful, are a 

 tendency to become naked below, which 

 can be remedied by cutting back, an over 

 abundant production of suckers, and its 

 immensely long roots. 



Bignonia capreolata, named for ^ the 

 Abbe^ Bignon, who first found it, is a 

 closely related species, of a more southern 

 range than the Tecoma, being found in 

 Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia. Its 

 leaves consist of but two leaflets and a 

 terminal tendril. Its flowers, similar to 

 those of the preceding, are orange. In 

 the southern states it is called cross-vine, 

 as the wood if cut transversely shows a 

 cross. 



One species of the Trumpet Flower, 

 the Tecoma starus, is a non-climbing 

 shrub of southern Florida and northern 

 Mexico. It grows about four feet high 

 and bears large clusters of lemon-yellow 

 flowers. It is hardy at Washington in 

 the Botanical Gardens and there were 

 fine plants exhibited at the Buffalo Expo- 

 sition. J. O. Cochran. 



227 



