Campsis grandiflora

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  • Campsis
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Description: leaflets 7-9; glabrous beneath; 4-7 cm long, paler green; calyx 5-lobed to middle; flowers orange to scarlet, corolla tube nearly one and half times as long as calyx, limb nearly 5-6 cm across; capsule 10-15 cm long, obtuse at apex, without beak.
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Campsis confusion: looking for Campsis grandiflora:
Genus Campsis has been confusing me a lot for quite some time. Traditionally two species of this genus are recognized as common garden trumpet creepers:
Campsis grandiflora: leaflets 7-9; glabrous beneath; 4-7 cm long, paler green; calyx 5-lobed to middle; flowers orange to scarlet, corolla tube nearly one and half times as long as calyx, limb nearly 5-6 cm across; capsule 10-15 cm long, obtuse at apex, without beak.
Campsis radicans: leaflets 9-11, pubescent beneath especially along midreib and main veins, dark green above; calyx shortly 5-lobed, lobes less than 1/3 the tube; flowers orange with scarlet limb, 2-3 times as long as calyx, usually less than 4 cm across; capsule cylindric-oblong, 7-12 cm long, keeled along sutures, beaked at apex.
I have been following the specimens of Campsis in Delhi, Kashmir, California and other places and frankly have not been able to locate a true sample of C. gandiflora. Most of the samples found in Kashmir and Delhi which look like C. grandiflora do not bear fruits, flowers fall off when mature and number of leaflets varry from 7-11 (-13). This sterile hybrid is actually C. X tagliabuana, a hybrid between C. radicans and C. grandiflora. Both specimens at at FOI (C. radicans as well as C. grandiflora) i think belong to this hybrid species, which is propagated by cuttings.
I would be extremely happy if any member is able to find and can upload a true specimen of C. grandiflora (7-9 leaflets, leaflets glabrous beneath, calyx divided up to middle, corolla tube 1 1/2 times as long as calyx, more important it produces fruits which are 10-15 cm long and without beak at tip)

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Bignoniaceae Week: looking for Campsis grandiflora:
Genus Campsis has been confusing me a lot for quite some time. Traditionally two species of this genus are recognized as common garden trumpet creepers:
Campsis grandiflora: leaflets 7-9; glabrous beneath; 4-7 cm long, paler green; calyx 5-lobed to middle; flowers orange to scarlet, corolla tube nearly one and half times as long as calyx, limb nearly 5-6 cm across; capsule 10-15 cm long, obtuse at apex, without beak.
Campsis radicans: leaflets 9-11, pubescent beneath especially along midreib and main veins, dark green above; calyx shortly 5-lobed, lobes less than 1/3 the tube; flowers orange with scarlet limb, 2-3 times as long as calyx, usually less than 4 cm across; capsule cylindric-oblong, 7-12 cm long, keeled along sutures, beaked at apex.
I have been following the specimens of Campsis in Delhi, Kashmir, California and other places and frankly have not been able to locate a true sample of C. gandiflora. Most of the samples found in Kashmir and Delhi which look like C. grandiflora do not bear fruits, flowers fall off when mature and number of leaflets varry from 7-11 (-13). This sterile hybrid is actually C. X tagliabuana, a hybrid between C. radicans and C. grandiflora. Both specimens at at FOI (C. radicans as well as C. grandiflora) i think belong to this hybrid species, which is propagated by cuttings.
I would be extremely happy if any member is able to find and can upload a true specimen of C. grandiflora (7-9 leaflets, leaflets glabrous beneath, calyx divided up to middle, corolla tube 1 1/2 times as long as calyx, more important it produces fruits which are 10-15 cm long and without beak at tip)

Thank you, nice to remember these differences, but what confuses me more is the vast numbers of cultivars that I see in India and in American southwest and in Florida.

Garden breeders and cultivar developers have to keep busy to give some thing new to the plant lovers.

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C. radicans, Upper row from left to right: Leaf (A), lower leaf surface (B), flower (C), fruit (D), Emporium Garden, Srinagar Kashmir, July 17, 2011.
C. x tagliabuana, Lower row left to right: Leaf (E), lower leaf surface (F), Flower, part of inflorescence with corolla shed (G)., Cheshma Shahi, Srinagar, Kashmir, July 8, 2011.
Extreme right flower of C. radicans on right, C. x tagliabuana on left.

Let us locate Campsis grandiflora : 2 posts by 2 authors. Attachments (1)

Let us locate Campsis grandiflora
Most of us following Indian Floras and famous “Manual of Cultivated Plants” by L. H. Bailey, know two cultivated species of Campsis:
1. Campsis radicans (L.) Seem: Leaflets 9-11, pubescent beneath especially along veins, calyx split less than 1/3, corolla tube 3 times as long as calyx, fruit 7-12 cm long, beaked at apex.
2. Campsis grandiflora (Thunb.) K.Schum. (syn: C. chinensis (Lamarck) Voss): Leaflets 7-9, glabrous beneath, calyx split 1/2, fruit 12-15 cm long, apex obtuse, not beaked.
I have explored many parts of India and found that whereas C. radicans is quite common especially in Kashmir and Delhi, areas I have explored most, but the plant which looks like C. grandiflora (and may have been identified by many as C. grandiflora) have 7-13 (rarely up to 15) leaflets, glabrous beneath, calyx split nearly 1/2, corolla tube about twice as long as calyx, Interestingly this does not produce any fruits, the whole flower falling off early along with the ovary, reason being that this plant is a sterile hybrid between the previous two species, and can be spread by cuttings. It has been named as C. x tagliabuana Rehder, and has a number of cultivars.
C. radicans, Upper row from left to right: Leaf (A), lower leaf surface (B), flower (C), fruit (D), Emporium Garden, Srinagar Kashmir, July 17, 2011.
C. x tagliabuana, Lower row left to right: Leaf (E), lower leaf surface (F), Flower, part of inflorescence with corolla shed (G)., Cheshma Shahi, Srinagar, Kashmir, July 8, 2011.
Extreme right flower of C. radicans on right, C. x tagliabuana on left.
I have been unsuccessful with C. grandiflora
Members are requested to look for plant of C. grandiflora (7-9 leaflets, glabrous beneath, calyx slit half way, corolla tube slightly longer, and very important with fruit.
Let us hope we are successful

 

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