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Bignonia capreolata L.
Crossvine
Florida native
A frequent vine of floodplain forests and wet hammocks from the central peninsula northward and throughout the panhandle. The range extends throughout the southeastern states, west into Texas and Oklahoma and north into the Ohio River Valley and the area around Chesapeake Bay.
Crossvine is evergreen, woody and climbs high having distinctive opposite leaves with each leaf made up of two leaflets. The leaflets are usually elliptic to lanceolate, sometimes oblong, and have a tendril extending from between them. The tips of the leaflets narrow to a point and the bases are rounded or heart-shaped. The large showy flowers are a reddish-orange tube flaring out into five petals. The inside of the tube is yellow or reddish. Blooming is in spring and the flowers are 5cm (2 in.) long and 2cm (~3/4 in.) across. The fruit is bean-like, flattened, 1-2dm (4 to 8 in.) long and 2-2.5cm (3/4 to 1 in.) wide containing 3cm (1-3/16 in.) long winged seeds.
Trumpet creeper (Campsis radicans) has somewhat similar flowers but it has alternate compound leaves with 7 or more leaflets. Another vine with opposite leaves each with two leaflets is catclaw vine (Dolichandra unguis-cati), but the flowers are yellow and the tendril between the leaflets divides into three curved parts (the claw). A vine with opposite simple leaves is yellow jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens).
Bignonia capreolata is a member of the Bignoniaceae - Trumpet-creeper family.
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
Date record last modified: Dec 26, 2025
