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Bignonia (The Abbe Jean Paul Bignon, 1662- 1743, Court librarian to Louis XIV). Bignoniaceae. Woody tendril-climbers, grown in the open in the warmer parts and also under glass.

Bignonia (The Abbe Jean Paul Bignon, 1662- 1743, Court librarian to Louis XIV). Bignoniaceae. Woody tendril-climbers, grown in the open in the warmer parts and also under glass.

Leaves opposite, compound (in proper representatives of the genus), the terminal lft. often represented by a tendril: fls. large, tubular or bell-shaped, enlarged above the calyx, obtusely 5-lobed, and more or less 2-lipped, the calyx slightly or not at all toothed; stamens 4, paired, and sometimes a sterile rudiment: fr. a 2-celIed septifragal caps, flattened parallel with the partition; valves thickened; seeds winged.—The genus Bignonia is variously understood. By Bentham & Hooker it is regarded as a polymorphous group of 150 or more species; by Schumann (in Engler & Prantl) it is reduced to 2 species with claw-like (not disk-bearing) tendrils, B. exoleta, Vell., and B. Unguis-cati, Linn. By the former authors Bignoniaceae is held to contain about 50 genera, and by the latter about 100. Schumann distributes the bignonias of Bentham & Hooker into several genera: the common East American B. capreolata goes to Doxantha, a disposition that has not been accepted by American botanists. As here employed, Bignonia is deprived of many of the tropical species that have been placed in it in horticultural literature, and the student is referred to Clytostoma, Cydista, Phaedranthus, Pithecoctenium, Pyrostegia, Tabebuia and others. Very recently the name Bignonia has been used for the species described in this work under Campsis, because Bignonia originally was based mainly on B. radicans = Campsis radicans. In this case, the generic name for B. exoleta and B. Unguis-cati above becomes Doxantha; otherwise, this latter name remains a synonym of Bignonia, although, as stated above, Schumann has used it as the generic name of B, capreolata; but the correct name for this plant appears to be Anisostichus capreolata, of Bureau. The other species described here under Bignonia probably belong to different genera, but their correct botanical affinity has not yet been ascertained.

Leaves opposite, compound (in proper representatives of the genus), the terminal lft. often represented by a tendril: fls. large, tubular or bell-shaped, enlarged above the calyx, obtusely 5-lobed, and more or less 2-lipped, the calyx slightly or not at all toothed; stamens 4, paired, and sometimes a sterile rudiment: fr. a 2-celIed septifragal caps, flattened parallel with the partition; valves thickened; seeds winged.—The genus Bignonia is variously understood. By Bentham & Hooker it is regarded as a polymorphous group of 150 or more species; by Schumann (in Engler & Prantl) it is reduced to 2 species with claw-like (not disk-bearing) tendrils, B. exoleta, Vell., and B. Unguis-cati, Linn. By the former authors Bignoniaceae is held to contain about 50 genera, and by the latter about 100. Schumann distributes the bignonias of Bentham & Hooker into several genera: the common East American B. capreolata goes to Doxantha, a disposition that has not been accepted by American botanists. As here employed, Bignonia is deprived of many of the tropical species that have been placed in it in horticultural literature, and the student is referred to Clytostoma, Cydista, Phaedranthus, Pithecoctenium, Pyrostegia, Tabebuia and others. Very recently the name Bignonia has been used for the species described in this work under Campsis, because Bignonia originally was based mainly on B. radicans - Campsis radicans. In this case, the generic name for B. exoleta and B. Unguis-cati above becomes Doxantha; otherwise, this latter name remains a synonym of Bignonia, although, as stated above, Schumann has used it as the generic name of B, capreolata; but the correct name for this plant appears to be Anisostichus capreolata, of Bureau. The other species described here under Bignonia probably belong to different genera, but their correct botanical affinity has not yet been ascertained.

The bignonias are American climbers, mostly tropical, some of them and their allies constituting lianas if great length; and the profusion and beauty of their flowers makes them conspicuous and interesting. The stem of some species shows a 4-parted or cross-like arrangement in cross-section, whence the name "cross-vine;" and on this account, some of the natives of Spanish America attribute sacred virtues or attributes to the plants, calling them "bejucos de la cruz." Fig. 553.

The bignonias are American climbers, mostly tropical, some of them and their allies constituting lianas if great length; and the profusion and beauty of their flowers makes them conspicuous and interesting. The stem of some species shows a 4-parted or cross-like arrangement in cross-section, whence the name "cross-vine;" and on this account, some of the natives of Spanish America attribute sacred virtues or attributes to the plants, calling them "bejucos de la cruz." Fig. 553.