No. 20] Bignonia ( Bignoniacece). 151 



No. 20.— Family BIGNONlACE^E. (Bignonia Fam.) 



Genus Tecoma, Juss. 



Fig. 72.— Trumpet-Creeper. Trumpet-Flower. T. rddkans, 



Juss. 



Flowers, two and a half to three inches in length, scarlet 

 without, orange within, in terminal clusters. Corolla, 

 funnel-form, with short tube, five-lobed, slightly- 

 irregular. Calyx, bell-shape, five-toothed, about half 

 the length of the corolla. Stamens, four (with rudi- 

 ments of a fifth), inserted on the corolla, not protrud- 

 ing. Anther-cells, diverging. Style, one, slender. 

 Stigma, two-lipped. Seed-case, free, two-celled, many- 

 seeded. June, August. 



Leaves, compound, opposite. Leaflets, nine or eleven, two 

 to three inches in length, egg-shape to oval. Edges, 

 coarse-toothed. Apex and base, pointed. 



Fruit, five to six inches in length, curved, two-celled, with 

 the partition at right angles to the flattened sides, a 

 section showing the figure of a cross. Seeds, many, 

 flat, winged across. A capsule. 



Found, in moist soil, from Pennsylvania and Virginia, 

 southward to Florida and Texas. Common at the 

 north in cultivation. 



A vigorous woody climber, sometimes mounting to the 

 height of twenty to eighty feet. In cultivation it perhaps 

 shows to best advantage when trained upon stout posts, 

 so forming thick columns of rich foliage and bloom. It is 

 without tendrils, climbing by help of numerous short root- 

 lets at the joints. 



