Campsis radicans

A large, high climbing vines with compound leaves, roots at the nodes, and no tendrils. Its flowers are reddish orange, trumpet-shaped and have a 5 parted, persistent calyx. It is the only vine in Louisiana with opposite leaves that have 7-15 leaflets.

Seeds should be harvested before the capsules split open (September-October) or right after. Plant seeds in the fall, directly where they are to grow, and seedlings should appear in spring. Germination is improved by wet stratification in damp vermiculite for 6 weeks at 44-54 F (Phillips 1985). Stem cuttings of ripe wood (one year old ) can be taken in spring. Cuttings should be rooted under mist or under plastic tarp. Root cuttings, and shoots produced along runners, can be separated and transplanted.

Extensively used by carpenter bees and hummingbirds. Charles Robertson, 1928: (Hummingbirds suck nectar from flowers; bees occasionally collect pollen from flowers & are non-pollinating; Halictid bees, ants, and flies suck nectar from extra-floral nectaries; observations are from Robertson) Flower visitors: Birds Trochilidae: Archilochus colubris fq Bees (long-tongued) Apidae (Bombini): Bombus pensylvanica Bees (short-tongued) Halictidae (Halictinae): Lasioglossum zephyrus Extra-floral nectary visitors: Bees (short-tongued) Halictidae (Halictinae): Lasioglossum imitatus, Lasioglossum versatus fq, Lasioglossum zephyrus Ants Formicidae: Formica fusca fq, Formica schaufussi, Tapinoma sessilis; Myrmicidae: Cremastogaster lineolata fq Flies Syrphidae: Syritta pipiens; Sarcophagidae: Ravinia anxia, Ravinia stimulans; Calliphoridae: Helicobia rapax, Lucilia sericata; Muscidae: Musca domestica, Stomoxys calcitrans; Milichiidae: Milichiella lucidula fq; Otitidae: Delphinia picta fq

The green capsules have extra-floral nectaries on their surface and ants may afford protection for the fruits.

Woodlands, fencerows, roadsides, and waste places, stream banks, flood plains, moist woods and open woods.