Trumpet Flower

Or “Crossvine,” “Cross-Vine” or its scientific name, “Bignonia capreolata.” Read on for the origins of the names…

From Missouri Botanical Garden, http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=w830 » This is “a vigorous, woody vine that climbs by branched tendrils with adhesive disks. It is grown primarily for its attractive flowers and its ability to rapidly cover structures with attractive foliage. Opposite, compound leaves are bifoliate. Each leaf consists of a pair of lanceolate to oblong dark green leaflets (to 6" long) and a branched tendril between them. Tendril branches terminate in adhesive disks that easily attach to walls. Foliage remains evergreen in the South, but turns reddish-purple in fall with subsequent leaf drop in the colder winter areas of its range. Axillary clusters (2-5 flowered cymes) of fragrant, trumpet-shaped, orange-red flowers (to 2" long) appear in spring. Flowers are followed by greenish, pod-like seed capsules (to 7" long) which mature in late summer and persist into fall. A cross section of stem reveals a marking resembling the Greek cross, hence the common name.

“Genus name honors Abbe Jean Paul Bignon, librarian in the court of Louis XV.

“This vine is in the same family as and closely related to ‘Campsis radicans’ which is commonly known as trumpet vine.

“Garden Uses
Cover for fences, arbors, walls, pillars or large trellises.”

I didn’t even recognize this as the same flower as in a photo I took more than a year ago that was taken for PhytoImages, http://phytoimages.siu.edu/imgs/paraman1/r/Bignoniaceae_Bignonia_capreolata_69250.html

This image at PhytoImages: http://phytoimages.siu.edu/imgs/paraman1/r/Bignoniaceae_Bignonia_capreolatum_85745.html

Species page at PhytoImages, http://phytoimages.siu.edu/cgi-bin/dol/dol_terminal.pl?taxon_name=Bignonia_capreolata&rank=binomial

Photo taken at SIUC Plant Biology Greenhouse, http://www.plantbiology.siu.edu/facilities/plant-biology-facilities/greenhouse/index.php

1 year ago (“10-frame day”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2013-05-27
2 years ago (“There may be cracks in the façade…”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2012-05-27
3 years ago (“ :o ”): http://365project.org/rhoing/365/2011-05-27

[Rick Schies]

Well maybe if our Clematis plants do not do well we may need to look at something like this. I wonder how long they bloom

[Vicki Dixon]

nice it is so hardy and has a gorgeous flower too! nice shot