''Pyrostegia venusta'', also commonly known as flamevine or orange trumpet vine, is a plant species of the genus '' Pyrostegia'' of the family

Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae () is a Family (biology), family of flowering plants in the Order (biology), order Lamiales commonly known as the bignonias or trumpet vines.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant ...

originally native to southern

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

, northeastern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

and

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

; today, it is also a widely cultivated garden species.

Description

It is an evergreen or

semi-deciduous Semi-deciduous or semi-evergreen is a botanical term which refers to plants that lose their foliage for a very short period, when old leaves fall off and new foliage growth is starting. This phenomenon occurs in tropical and sub-tropical wood ...

, vigorously-growing climber, capable of reaching 5 m in height. The foliage is made up of

opposite In lexical semantics, opposites are words lying in an inherently incompatible binary relationship. For example, something that is ''even'' entails that it is not ''odd''. It is referred to as a 'binary' relationship because there are two members i ...

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, and ...

leaves with two or three, 4 to 8 cm leaflets, and a 3-branched

tendril In botany, a tendril is a specialized Plant stem, stem, leaf or Petiole (botany), petiole with a thread-like shape used by climbing plants for support and attachment, as well as cellular invasion by parasitic plants such as ''Cuscuta''. There ar ...

, which all arise together from the end of the leaf

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

. The orange flowers, which appear from winter to spring, are 5 to 9 cm long and densely clustered. They are pollinated by

hummingbird Hummingbirds are birds native to the Americas and comprise the Family (biology), biological family Trochilidae. With approximately 366 species and 113 genus, genera, they occur from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego, but most species are found in Cen ...

s. The fruits are smooth, 3 cm long brown capsules.

Cultivation

The plant is sensitive to cold winds and prefers sunny, sheltered locations. Its frost hardiness

USDA zones A hardiness zone is a geographic area defined as having a certain average annual minimum temperature, a factor relevant to the survival of many plants. In some systems other statistics are included in the calculations. The original and most widely ...

are 9 to 11. It is resistant to soil

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

. The plant has forked tendrils, which will cling to any rough surface, including brick walls. It can be grown from semi-hardwood cuttings taken in summer, autumn or winter. It is

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

in eastern Australia, eastern Africa and in the

southeastern United States The Southeastern United States, also known as the American Southeast or simply the Southeast, is a geographical List of regions in the United States, region of the United States located in the eastern portion of the Southern United States and t ...

.Pyrostegia venusta
by Weeds of Australia - Biosecurity Queensland Edition

Taxonomic history

The species was first described by John Miers in 1863.

Etymology

''Venusta'' means 'beautiful', 'charming', or 'graceful'.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 322, 399 "Pyrostegia" is from the Greek ''pyros'' 'fire', relating to the colour of the flowers and the shape of the upper lip, and ''stegia'' 'covering'. When the flowers cover a building, it may appear to be on fire.

References

External links

* Bignoniaceae Plants described in 1863 Vines Flora of Brazil Flora of Bolivia Flora of Paraguay Flora of Argentina Garden plants Garden plants of South America {{Bignoniaceae-stub