362 



SYLVAN SKETCHES. 



Blgnonia ruhescens, the Hooting, or Ash -leaved 

 Trumpet flower, French, Jasmin de la Virginie ; 

 Itahan, Bignonia Florida, grows in the same manner. 

 In Europe, where it is generally planted against walls, 

 it strikes into the mortar, and, so supported, rises to the 

 height of forty or fifty feet. The leaves are pinnate, 

 composed of four pairs of leaflets, terminated by an odd 

 one ; these are placed in pairs at every joint of the stalks. 

 The flowers are produced at the ends of the shoots of the 

 year, in large bunches ; they have long swelling tubes, 

 shaped somewhat like a trumpet, are orange-coloured, 

 and open early in August : this species w^as cultivated 

 here in 1640. 



The Bignonia serapervirens^ or Carohna Yellow Jas- 

 mine, which the later botanists call Gelscminitm sem- 

 pervire7is, climbs in the same manner as the others. The 

 leaves are green throughout the year ; the flowers are 

 trumpet-shaped, and stand erect ; they are of a golden 

 yellov/, and extremely fragrant. In South Carolina, its 

 native land, it spreads over the hedges, and in the 

 flovv^ering season perfumes the air to a great distance. 

 It grows, but less plentifully, in Virginia also, where it 

 is called Yellow Jasmine. 



All the species here m.entioned will grow abroad in 

 this country, v/hen they have acquired strength, being 

 protected by mats in frosty weather, and having a little 

 old tanners' bark laid over the roots. The Ash-leaved 

 Bignonia will live without this tender care : this sends 

 out a great many suckers, which may be taken ofl* and 

 planted : these will flower in two or three years. When 

 raised from seed, it will be seven or eight years before it 

 produces fl^owers. These plants are of long duration ; 



