Bignonia Family (Bignoniaceæ)
Trumpet Creeper (Tecoma radicans) is an exceedingly beautiful woody vine having a southern disposition.
The stem grows from 20 to 40 feet long and is either prostrate or climbing. Sometimes it extends over the ground, climbing over the bushes that may be in its path, and again it may take an upward course and climb the trunks and branches of small trees. As it is a hardy plant it is often seen in cultivation and is used to decorate porches in the North.
The flowers are trumpet-shaped, red within and tawny or orange on the outside of the tube. They grow in terminal clusters of two to nine blossoms, each in a cup-shaped, two-parted calyx. The corolla is about 2½ inches long and flares into five rounded lobes. Four anther-bearing stamens and a pistil are in the upper part of the tube. The leaves grow oppositely on the stem and are each composed of 7 to 11 ovate, toothed leaflets. We find this vine from N. J. to Ia. and southward.