Crossvine is a wonderful native plant to add to your backyard garden. As an ornamental vine, crossvine is easier to manage then its close relative trumpet creeper ( Campsis radicans) which is much more rampant and needs greater attention to pruning to keep it in bounds. Some of the named ornamental cultivars are ‘Tangerine Beauty,’ ‘Wabash Valley,’ ‘Shalimar Red,’ ‘Helen Fredel,’ ‘Jekyll,’ ‘Dragon Lady,’ and ‘Atrosanguinea’ to name a few. Cultivars have been developed that are a deeper orange-red or brighter yellow on the outside of the flower. The flowers are pollinated by the ruby-throated hummingbird and ants are commonly seen stealing nectar from the flowers.Ĭrossvine is becoming more commonly found in nurseries and garden centers. Flowering occurs from mid spring to late summer. The flowers are trumpet shaped, commonly orange on the outside and yellow on the inside rarely the flowers are yellow or a deep orange-red on the outside. The flowers occur in clusters of two to five in the axils of the leaves. The leaves are bright green during the growing season turning to a reddish purple color in winter. The tips of the tendril have adhesive disks that allow the vine to attach itself to a tree or other available support such as a fence. The leaves are semi-evergreen, opposite, compound with two basal, leaflets with a branched tendril between the two leaves. It may grow 50 or more feet long and uses its tendrils to attach its self to trees or fences or through the tops of thickets. Crossvine is found in rich woods, swamps, fencerows, and roadsides. The species epithet capreolata comes from the Latin word meaning “tendrils.”Ĭrossvine is found throughout the southeastern part of the country, from Missouri to Eastern Texas to Florida to Maryland to southern Illinois. The genus Bignonia was named by the French botanist, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort to honor his friend Abbe’ Jean-Paul Bignon. Crossvine is a member of the Bignonia family (Bignoniaceae). The common name, crossvine, is derived from the shape of the pith in the vine’s stem when viewed in cross-section. Crossvine ( Bignonia capreolata L.)Ĭrossvine, occasionally called trumpet flower, is a beautiful native, semi-evergreen, climbing, woody, vine. Photo by Wofford and Chester, courtesy University of Tennessee Herbarium. Photo by Larry Stritch.Ī pressed specimen of crossvine note the opposite, compound leaf with two leaflets, and the two petiolules and tendril originating from the end of the leaf’s petiole. Photo by Eugene Wofford courtesy University of Tennessee Herbarium.Ī crossvine climbing up the trunk of an eastern red cedar. Photo by Mark Pistrang.Ī cross-section view of the stem of a crossvine the source of the common name is self-evident. USDA PLANTS Database.Ĭoming across a beautiful cluster of crossvine flowers is a real treat.
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