Crescentia
(named after Pietro Crescenzi, an Italian writer on agriculture, in the thirteenth century, author of "Opus ruralium commodorum"). ORD. Bignoniaceae. Large stove evergreen, spreading trees. Flowers solitary, rising from the trunk or branches; corolla large, sub-campanulate; tube short; throat large, ventricose; limb spreading, five-cleft, unequal; lobes toothed or curled. Leaves alternate, solitary, or in fascicles, simple, entire. They grow well in a mixture of loam, peat, and sand. Ripened cuttings will strike root in sand, under a hand glass, in heat. These trees require to be so large before they reach a flowering state, that it is not likely they will ever be much cultivated in this country. All are natives of tropical America. Some of the species described are: acuminata, cucurbitina, Cujete (Calabash-tree), macrophylla, and obovata.