76 
COMMON TRUMPET FLOWER. 
to be cultivated along walls and trelisses. In the Bartram 
Garden, (Kingsessing,) there is one of these trees, probably 
a century old, with a thick, short and nearly erect stem, its 
summit spreading out into an independent airy bower. A 
familiar retiring place for 3 generations of the family, it 
scarcely presents any sign of decay, being only stunted by 
the thinness of the soil in which it grows. May the vener- 
able groves, and splendid and curious trees of this patri- 
archal residence, long survive the waning existence of its 
present proprietors. But I fear the love of change and of 
gain, will at no distant date turn these remarks and refer- 
ences into a matter of mere historical recollection in place 
of existing facts. 
The wood of this species appears to be hard and fine- 
grained, but it is no where in such quantity as to make it an 
object of economy. That of some of the tropical species 
is highly esteemed for it durability and hardness. 
The leaves, which drop off in winter, are opposite, un- 
equally pinnated, with 4 or 5 pairs of leaflets, these are 
oval, long pointed, serrated and acuminated, smooth above, 
beneath a little hairy along the vessels. The flowers are 
large and of a bright red, with the tube inclined to yellow, 
disposed in clusters at the extremities of the branches and 
coming out in a long succession. The corolla is partly 
funnel-formed, with the tube about twice the length of the 
calyx. The capsular pods, somewhat cylindric, are about 
6 to 7 inches long, about an inch wide, and pointed at each 
end. 
This species was introduced into England as early as the 
year 1640. According to Loudon, there is one of the finest 
specimens known in Europe trained against the Palace 
Pitti at Florence, which, in 1819, was upwards of 60 feet 
high. 
Plate CIV. 
A branch of the natural size. 
