Appearance
The leaves are opposite, ovate, pinnate, 3–10 cm long, and emerald green when new, maturing into a dark green. The flowers come in terminal cymes of 4–12, orange to red in color with a yellowish throat, and generally appear after several months of warm weather.
Naming
The Latin specific epithet "radicans" means "with stems that take root".
Habitat
The flowers are very attractive to hummingbirds, and many types of birds like to nest in the dense foliage. The flowers are followed by large seed pods. As these mature, they dry and split. Hundreds of thin, brown, paper-like seeds are released. These are easily grown when stratified.
Evolution
The flamboyant flowering of "Campsis radicans" made it obvious to even the least botanically-minded of the first English colonists in Virginia. Consequently the plant quickly made its way to England early in the 17th century. Its botanical parentage, as a hardy member of a mostly subtropical group, made its naming problematic: according to John Parkinson, the Virginia settlers were at first calling it a jasmine or a honeysuckle, and then a bellflower; he classed it in the genus "Apocynum". Joseph Pitton de Tournefort erected a catch-all genus "Bignonia" in 1700, from which it has since been extricated.References:
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