Genus CATALPA, Juss. 



BignoniacetE. Diandria Monogynia. 



Syst. Nat. Syst. Lin. 



Synonymes. 

 Catalpa, Bigrionia, Of Authors. 



Derivations. The word Catalpa is supposed to be corrupted from an Indian name of a tree belonging to this genus; and 

 Bignonia was so called by Tounieforl, in compliment to the Abb6 Bignon, librarian to Louis XIV. 



Generic Characters Calyx 2-parted. Corolla campanulate, with a ventricose tube, and an unequal 4- 

 lobed linab. Stamens 5, 2 of which are fertile, and 3 of them sterile. Stigma bilamellate. Capsule 

 silique-formed, long, cylindrical, 2-valved. Dissepiment opposite the valves. Seeds membranousiy 

 margined, and pappose at the base and apex. Don, Miller^ s Diet. 



I HE genus Catalpa was constituted by Jussieu from the Birrnonia 

 catalfja of Tournefort, and comprises but one species, native of 

 North America. Nearly allied to the same natural family is 

 the order Scrophulariacege, which embraces that magnificent tree, 

 ihePaiilowniaimperialis, so called by Sieber, in honour of the 

 Hereditary Princess of the Netherlands, who was daughter to the 

 Emperor of Russia. The leaves of the Paulownia are cordate, deeply serrated, and 

 slightly ciliated, having the general appearance of those of a gigantic sun-flower. 

 The flowers, which put forth in April or May, are blue, resembling those of the 

 Gloxinia caulescens, and have an agreeable odour, somewhat like that of the 

 mock orange, (Philadelphus coronarius,) but less powerful. This tree is a 

 native of Japan, and was introduced into Britain in 1840, and into France two 

 or three years before that date. It has proved quite hardy in the Jardin des 

 Plantes, at Paris, where it withstood the winter of 1838-9 without any covering, 

 and in 1842, had acquired the height of twenty feet, producing leaves two feet in 

 diameter. The plants at Trianon have been much more rapid in their growth, 

 having made shoots from twelve to fourteen feet in length in a single year. This 

 species was introduced into the United States, in 1843, by Messrs. Parsons, of 

 Flushing, near New York, where it remained in the open air, without any cov- 

 ering, during the last eight years. It has since been propagated in several nur- 

 series in the union, and bids fair to be a great addition to our shrubberies and 

 ornamental plantations, particularly in situations where immediate effect is the 

 object. It is easily propagated by cuttings of the roots, put into thumb-pots, and 

 will grow in any common garden soil; but it thrives best in one that is dry, and 

 somewhat loamy. 



