1(12 NRBKASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETV. 



closely, to distinguish one from the other. Notwithstanding this close 

 resemblance, there is a very wide difference in their commercial value. 



The wood of the Speciosa is very durable in the ground, lasting 

 nearly or quite as long as red cedar (I have seen specimens that had 

 been in the ground fifty years and were yet sound) and hence is very 

 valuable for fence posts, railroad ties or for any use that requires timbers 

 to be set in the ground. On the contrary the wood of the Biguonioides 

 is almost worthless for the uses above named, as it rots in a very 

 few years in the ground. Tt is mainly valuable as an ornamental or 

 shade tree, it being a very profuse bloomer covering itself almost entirely 

 with magnificent clusters of very beautiful white flowers which appear 

 the last of June. 



In view of this, and the enormous demand for the seedlings of the 

 Speciosa for forest planting, the importance of being able to distinguish 

 between the two species becomes at once apparent particvilarly in gather- 

 ing the seed, the Speciosa being very valuable for forest planting and the 

 Bignonioides practically worthless. 



As before stated the two species are so alike when young that it is 

 nearly or quite impossible to tell one from- the other for several years 

 after planting. The first variance noticed is in the blossoming, the Spe- 

 ciosa blooming fully ten days earlier than the Bignonioides, the individ- 

 ual flower being somewhat larger and the cluster of bloom smaller and 

 less in number. Then, as the tree gets age, the Speciosa grows some faster 

 and makes a strong upright tree, with a dark, deeply wrinkled bark 

 resembling somewhat the bark of an elm or a box-elder. 



The Bignonioides, while a rapid grower, is more inclined to spread, 

 making finally a broader head and somewhat lower tree with a lighter 

 (olorfd bark much inclined to scale off, something like the soft maple. 

 Notice samples of wood Nos. 1, Speciosa and No. 4, Bignonioides. 

 (Indicating.) 



As the trees get older this difference between the two species becomes 

 more marked until at the age of twenty -five or thirty years it is quite 

 distinct. 



The principal means of identification, however, is the fruit, the seed 

 pods and the seed. These are the only unimpeachable witnesses and 

 are always the court of last resort. 



The seed pods of the Speciosa are usually borne singly and in pairs 

 and very rarely three or more in a cluster. There are from twelve to 

 twenty-two inches in length and from one-half to five-eighths of an inch 

 in diameter. The seeds are both long and broad, from one and three- 

 fourths to two and three-fourths inches in length and from one-fourth to 

 three-eighths of an inch broad, with the hair on either end distributed 

 well across the end and not penciled. 



With the Bignonioides the seed pods are borne in cluster of from 

 three to six or more, are from six to twelve or fifteen inches in length 

 and from three-sixteenths to five-sixteenths of an inch in diameter. The 



