Camps is Rad.
Campsis is a genus of two species: Campsis grandiflora, and Campsis radicans. But each of these has more botanical names, in part due to the fact that no one seems to be able to agree which genus each of them is really in, or for that matter whether they ought to be in the same genus at all. That last point is especially relevant if you consider that they are the only two species within the genus Campsis.
Camspsis grandiflora is also known as Tecoma grandiflora, Campsis chinensis, Campsis adrepens, Bignonia grandiflora and Bignonia chinensis. Campsis radicans is also known as Bignonia radicans and Tecoma radicans. Tecoma and Bignonia are alternate genus names, of course, while chinensis and grandiflora describe the origin and the flowers, respectively.
Ironically, for all their names, most people could easily mistake one for the other, except that Campsis grandiflora loses its leaves in winter while Campsis radicans does not. Though I'm not trying to make the point that taxonomy sometimes is a waste of everybody's time, in this case it's probably a valid point to make.
So at this point, anyone who has waded through all that italicized Latin will be wondering, why the sudden obsession with the Campsis genus?
The plants we are talking about here are better known in English speaking countries as "Trumpet Vine," "Trumpet Flower," "Trumpet Creeper," or some variation thereof. Campsis radicans is common in gardens across America because it's hardy and grows quickly and its flowers are pretty. It also attracts hummingbirds. Campsis grandiflora is similarly common in Asia, as the alternate name Campsis chinensis may have given away.
By the way, though its common name is similar and its flowers look similar, Angel's Trumpets (genus Brugmansia) are not related to the Campses. In fact they're not even in the same order. This might seem reassuring since Angel's Trumpets are extremely toxic, and having a close relative of an extremely toxic plant as a common garden decoration across the U.S. would seem problematic. However, they are related (same family: Solanaceae) to the Nightshades (solanum), a genus which includes tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant. And while all of those are common enough, the inedible parts of those plants, as well as most of the rest of their genus, are all poisonous. Not to mention all the other poisonous plants that we all take for granted that may be commonly found all over the place.
Back to the Campses. The reason I got interested in them in the first place was when a teacher mentioned that they had some anti-cancer properties. Known in Chinese as 凌霄花 (líng xiāo huā; literally "sky flower"), Campsis grandiflora is supposed to be effective at treating cancers of the female reproductive system. This in itself is not that interesting; there were many other plants we discussed in class that day that had similar functions. What set this one apart was the fact that no one in our class could figure out what plant 凌霄花 actually was. The teacher obviously knew, and the one Chinese student knew, but the rest of us were pretty confused about whether this was something that looked like but wasn't related to the trumpet flower, or actually was related but wasn't the same, or actually was the trumpet flower we were familiar with. These are all common questions in an herbology class, but they're usually easily answered. Frustrated, I promised that when I got a bit of time I'd delve into it until I figured it out.
And there you have it. We might call it trumpet vine, or trumpet flower, or if we're being very precise the Chinese trumpet flower, but at the end of the day even the taxonomists aren't sure what kind of flowers they are.
Campsis radicans, courtesy of wikipedia.org
Campsis grandiflora, courtesy of wikipedia.org
(English and Latin aren't the only languages for which these plants have a multiplicity of names. Either species may be known in Chinese as 紫葳 (zi wei), 五爪龍 (wu zhau long)，紅花倒水蓮 (hong hua dao shui lian), 倒掛金鐘 (dao gua jin zhong)，上樹籠 (shang shu long), 上樹蜈蚣 (shang shu wu gong), 白狗腸 (bai gou chang), 吊牆花 (tiao jiang hua) ，or 墮胎花 (duo tai hua). My sincere apologies to anyone who is inconvenienced by the lack of tone markings in the preceding pinyin. After all those italics, I just can't muster up the energy.)
Camspsis grandiflora is also known as Tecoma grandiflora, Campsis chinensis, Campsis adrepens, Bignonia grandiflora and Bignonia chinensis. Campsis radicans is also known as Bignonia radicans and Tecoma radicans. Tecoma and Bignonia are alternate genus names, of course, while chinensis and grandiflora describe the origin and the flowers, respectively.
Ironically, for all their names, most people could easily mistake one for the other, except that Campsis grandiflora loses its leaves in winter while Campsis radicans does not. Though I'm not trying to make the point that taxonomy sometimes is a waste of everybody's time, in this case it's probably a valid point to make.
So at this point, anyone who has waded through all that italicized Latin will be wondering, why the sudden obsession with the Campsis genus?
The plants we are talking about here are better known in English speaking countries as "Trumpet Vine," "Trumpet Flower," "Trumpet Creeper," or some variation thereof. Campsis radicans is common in gardens across America because it's hardy and grows quickly and its flowers are pretty. It also attracts hummingbirds. Campsis grandiflora is similarly common in Asia, as the alternate name Campsis chinensis may have given away.
By the way, though its common name is similar and its flowers look similar, Angel's Trumpets (genus Brugmansia) are not related to the Campses. In fact they're not even in the same order. This might seem reassuring since Angel's Trumpets are extremely toxic, and having a close relative of an extremely toxic plant as a common garden decoration across the U.S. would seem problematic. However, they are related (same family: Solanaceae) to the Nightshades (solanum), a genus which includes tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplant. And while all of those are common enough, the inedible parts of those plants, as well as most of the rest of their genus, are all poisonous. Not to mention all the other poisonous plants that we all take for granted that may be commonly found all over the place.
Back to the Campses. The reason I got interested in them in the first place was when a teacher mentioned that they had some anti-cancer properties. Known in Chinese as 凌霄花 (líng xiāo huā; literally "sky flower"), Campsis grandiflora is supposed to be effective at treating cancers of the female reproductive system. This in itself is not that interesting; there were many other plants we discussed in class that day that had similar functions. What set this one apart was the fact that no one in our class could figure out what plant 凌霄花 actually was. The teacher obviously knew, and the one Chinese student knew, but the rest of us were pretty confused about whether this was something that looked like but wasn't related to the trumpet flower, or actually was related but wasn't the same, or actually was the trumpet flower we were familiar with. These are all common questions in an herbology class, but they're usually easily answered. Frustrated, I promised that when I got a bit of time I'd delve into it until I figured it out.
And there you have it. We might call it trumpet vine, or trumpet flower, or if we're being very precise the Chinese trumpet flower, but at the end of the day even the taxonomists aren't sure what kind of flowers they are.
Campsis radicans, courtesy of wikipedia.org
Campsis grandiflora, courtesy of wikipedia.org
(English and Latin aren't the only languages for which these plants have a multiplicity of names. Either species may be known in Chinese as 紫葳 (zi wei), 五爪龍 (wu zhau long)，紅花倒水蓮 (hong hua dao shui lian), 倒掛金鐘 (dao gua jin zhong)，上樹籠 (shang shu long), 上樹蜈蚣 (shang shu wu gong), 白狗腸 (bai gou chang), 吊牆花 (tiao jiang hua) ，or 墮胎花 (duo tai hua). My sincere apologies to anyone who is inconvenienced by the lack of tone markings in the preceding pinyin. After all those italics, I just can't muster up the energy.)