TRUMPETCREEPER 
Bignonia radicans Linnaeus 
Trumpetcreeper is a hardy vine with strong growth, and with 
gaudy red ot orange flowers clustered at the ends of long, graceful 
stems. If it has an opportunity it clings by means of aerial roots toa 
supporting neighbor, and frequently it climbs to the tops of tall trees. 
If no support is available it is satisfied to grow in moist fields, or on 
neglected roadsides. It is especially beloved by humming birds, which 
poise below the blossoms and thrust their long, slender bills into the 
trumpets to reach the nectar glands at the base. Audubon, in painting 
the ruby-throat, shows the bird with this flower. The trumpetcreeper 
belongs to the Bignonia Family, whose name was given by Linnaeus 
in honor of Abbe Bignon, librarian to Louis XV. The genus, as re- 
stricted by some authots, contains but two known species, the other 
being a native of Japan. The crossvine of the Southern States is a neat 
telative. The Bignonia Family is a large one, but most of its repre- 
sentatives are confined to the tropics. 
Trumpetcreeper ranges from Florida and Texas northward to 
southern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and lowa. 
The specimen sketched was found neat Washington, District 
of Columbia. 
PLATE 227 
