282 
Order CCXI. BIGNONIACE^. The Trumpet-Flower Tribe. 
Bignoni^, § 2. Jmw. Gen. 137. (1789). — Bignoniace^, R. Brown Prodr. 470. (1810); 
Link Handb. 1. 503. (1829) a sect, o/ Personatae ; Donin Edinb. Phil. Journ. 9. 264. 
(1823) ; Bartl. Ord. Nat. 185. (1830). 
Essential Character. — Calyx divided or entire, sometimes spathaceous. Corolla 
monopetalous, hypogynous, usually irregular, 4-5-lobed. Stamens 5, unequal : always 1, 
sometimes 3, sterile ; anthers 2-celled, formed normally. Ovary seated in a disk, 2-celled, 
or spuriously 4-celled, polyspermous ; style 1 ; stigma of 2 plates. Capsule 2-valved, 
2-celled, often long and compressed, sometimes spuriously 4-celled. Dissepiment either 
parallel with the valves, or contrary to them, finally becoming separate, bearing the seeds 
at the commissure along with the valves. Seeds transverse, compressed, often winged ; 
albumen 0 ; embryo straight, foliaceous ; radicle centrifugal. — Trees or shrubs, often twining 
or climbing. Leaves opposite, very rarely alternate, compound or occasionally simple, 
without stipules. Inflorescence terminal, somewhat panicled. 
Anomalies. Eccremocarpus has a 1 -celled fruit with parietal placentae. The fruit is 
sometimes spuriously 4-celled. 
Affinities. Distinguished from Scrophulariaceae and their immediate al- 
lies by the want of albumen, from Acanthaceae and Pedaliaceae by their winged 
seeds, and from both by their arborescent habit. Eccremocarpus is, however, 
an exception to the latter character, and also differs in having an unilocular 
ovary and fruit ; in the latter respect approaching Cyrtandraceae and Pedalia- 
ceae, from w’'hich, however, its winged seeds divide it. This wing to the seed 
is a beautiful membrane fonned of transparent cellular tissue, which, in Wigh- 
tia gigantea offers an instance of reticulated cellules, analogous to those of 
Maurandya Barclaiana. There do not appear to be any very certain limi ts 
between Bignoniaceae, Cyrtandraceae, and Pedahaceae, which might be reunited 
without much inconvenience. Eccremocarpus may be considered the link be- 
tween the two former, and Sesamum that between the two latter. The order 
is in a state of great confusion, and requires to be carefully revised by some 
good botanist. 
Geography. The tropics of either hemisphere are the chief station of this 
order, from which it extends northwards in North America as far as Pennsyl- 
vania, and southwards into the southern provinces of Chile. In Europe it is 
unknown in a wild state. 
Properties. Little known, except for the great beauty of the flowers. 
Chica is a red feculent substance obtained by boiling the leaves of Bignonia 
Chica in water ; the Chica is quickly precipitated by adding some pieces of 
the bark of an unknown tree, called Arayana. The Indians use it for painting 
their bodies red ; it is also becoming an article of importance to dyers. Brew- 
ster, 2. 370. It approaches in nature the resins, but contains some peculiar 
properties ; it gives an orange red to cotton. Ed. P. J. 12. 417. The tough 
shoots of Bignonia Cherere are woven into wicker- wmrk ; and several kinds of 
Bignonias form large trees in the forests of Brazil, where they are feUed for 
the sake of their timber ; that called Ipe-tabacco furnishes durable ship-tim- 
ber ; the Ipeuna, another species, the hardest wood in Brazil. Pr. Max. 
Travels, p. 68. Another, called the Pao d’arco, supplies one of the best kinds 
of wood used for bows by the Brazilian Indians, especially the Botocudos 
of the Rio Grande de Belmonte, and the Patachos of the Rio do Prado. 
Ibid. 238. 
GENERA. 
Bignonia, L. Spathodea, P. Beauv. Dolichandra, Cham. Tecoma, Juss. 
Millingtonia , L. f. Zeyheria, N. ab E. Stereospermum, Catalpa, Juss, 
Gelsemium, Juss. Holoregmia, N. ab E. Cham. Jacaranda, Juss. 
