126" 



SYLVA AMERICANA. 



for hoops, particularly for rice casks where the oak and hickory 

 cannot be obtained. 



BIGNONIA. 



Didynaraia Angiospermia. Linn. Eignoniae. Juss. Cathartic, narcotic. 



Catalpa. Bignonia catalpa. 



In the Atlantic States, 

 the Catalpa begins to be found 

 in the forests, on the banks 

 of the river Savannah, and 

 west of the Alleghanies, on 

 those of the Cumberland, 

 between the 35th and 36th 

 degrees of latitude. Farther 

 south it is more common, 

 and abounds near the bor- 

 ders of all the rivers which 

 empty into the Mississippi, 

 or which water West Florida. 

 In the Carolinas and in 

 Georgia the catalpa is called 

 Catawbaw Tree, from a tribe 

 of Indians by that name who 

 inhabited that part of the country. The French of Upper 

 Louisiana call it JBois Shavanon, from the Shavanon tribe of 

 Indians who once existed in West Tennessee. 



In the regions where it grows most abundantly it frequently 

 exceeds 50 feet in height, with a diameter from 18 to 24 inches. 

 It is easily recognized by its bark, which is of a silver-gray color, 

 and but slightly furrowed, by its ample leaves, and by its wide 

 spreading summit, disproportioned in size to the diameter of its 

 trunk. It differs from other trees also by the fewness of its 

 branches. The leaves are heart-shaped, petiolated, often six or 

 seven inches in width, glabrous above and downy beneath, 



Fig. 1. 



plate xv. 



A leaf. Fig. 2. A seed. 



