Bignoniaceae. 191 
BIGNONIACEAE 
Bigxoxia Family. 
The Bignonia family, which is represented in these Islands by the 
cultivated species of flowering trees described in the following pages, 
has also several vines of great beauty well established in the resi- 
dence section of Honolulu, such as the orange trumpet vine, Pyro- 
stegia (Bignonia) venusta, Bignonia unguis-cati, Cat's-claw Climber 
or Hug-me-tight, formerly known as Bignonia tweediana; the grace- 
ful Bignonia jasminoides with pale purplish flowers, and one or two 
others which do not come within the scope of this work. 
The family belongs decidedly to the tropics, and possesses about 
one hundred genera with four hundred fifty or more species. 
Tecomaria capensis (Thbg. ) Fenzl., supposedly a native of Bra- 
zil, but found wild all over the Cape of South Africa, cannot well 
be omitted. It is a shrub but more often a low bush with prostrate 
runners. The flowers are borne in terminal racemes, and are of a 
scarlet color. It fruits rarely, the capsules are linear and compressed. 
Shrubs of this species may be seen at the Haleiwa Hotel grounds, 
at the College of Hawaii Campus and elsewhere. 
Parmentiera cerifera Seem., the Candle Tree, is of recent intro- 
duction. Specimens have been planted at the College grounds. The 
tree forms large forests in Panama, which are covered at all seasons 
with long, yellow, candle-like fruits. 
Jacaranda ovalifolia K. Br. 
(Syn. Jacaranda mimosa efolia D. Don.) 
Jacaranda. 
Plate LXXV. 
The Jacaranda is a very handsome medium-sized tree with bi- 
pinnate leaves which remind one of those of the Poinciana. The 
leaflets are rhomboid, oblong, somewhat pointed and little over one- 
fourth of an inch long. The handsome, pale bluish-purple flowers 
are arranged in large terminal cymes. The calyx is small, while 
the bluish bell-shaped corolla is two inches long; the tube is curved 
below, inflated above, and the limb two-lipped, with one lip two- 
lobed, the other three-lobed. The fruit is a capsule, circular in out- 
line and flat. 
The genus Jacaranda possesses more than thirty species distributed 
from the Bermuda Islands to Brazil. The tree in question is a 
