TEAS HYBRLD CATALPA 
An Illustration of the Greater Vigor of Hybrids; Increased Growth and Hardiness 
as a Result of Crossing; Illustrating Definite Principles of Heredity 
D. F. Jones anp W. O. FILLEY 
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, New Haven. 
ly produced hybrid trees is small, 
compared to the number of crosses 
among other species, several noteworthy 
trees have been described from time to 
time which do not conform to any 
known kinds, and they have been attrib- 
uted to an assumed hybrid ancestry. A 
good example is found in the James River 
walnut,! considered to be the result of 
a natural cross-fertilization of /Juglans 
regia by J. cinerea. A similar tree has 
been described by Sargent ?. Likewise 
the Lucombe oak,* the Carolina poplar, * 
the London plane* and the fir trees 
which originated at Bulgnéville, France,* 
have been regarded, upon reasonably 
good evidence, as natural hybrids. 
Lastly, Teas’ hybrid catalpa so plainly 
exhibited characters of both Catalpa 
Kaempferi and C. bignonioides that 
Sargent ® was convinced of its double 
lineage. 
This latter cross has since been made 
from known trees of the two suspected 
parents. It is of more interest than 
as a mere illustration of a hybrid tree, 
to note that this plant agrees in every 
particular with the tree which was 
attributed to the parentage deduced 
from the characters it possessed toge- 
ther with the circumstances attending 
its origin. 
\ LTHOUGH the number of artificial- 
ORIGIN OF THE HYBRID CATALPA 
The history of the original hybrid is 
as follows, quoting from Sargent: “J. C. 
Teas of Carthage, Mo., while living in 
Indiana in 1864, purchased a seedling 
1 Peter Bisset, ‘‘ The James River Walnut.” 
2C. S. Sargent, ‘‘A Hybrid Walnut Tree.” 
3, W. H. Lamb, “Hybrid Trees.” 
4 Garden and Forest, 1890, 3:308. 
5 C.S. Sargent, ‘‘A Hybrid Catalpa.’’ 
16 
catalpa from Mahlon Moon of Morris- 
ville, Pa., who raised it from seed pro- 
cured from Japan by Hovey & Co., the 
Boston seedsmen. According to the 
statement of Mr. Teas, to whom I am 
indebted for the facts in the case, this 
tree, which proved to be C. Kaempferi, 
was planted in his nursery among or 
near plants of C. bignonioides and C. 
speciosa, the two North American 
species; and it produced in due time one 
pod of seeds which were quite unlike 
those of any catalpa with which Mr. 
Teas was acquainted. The seeds were 
planted and gave rise to a tree almost 
intermediate in character between C. 
Kaempfert and one of the American 
species. The appearance of this seed- 
ling tree and its progeny suggests that 
the pollen from a flower of one of the 
American catalpas had fertilized a 
flower of the Japanese tree. The Ameri- 
can parent was probably C. bignonioides, 
although Mr. Teas is inclined to believe 
that it was C. speciosa. The latter 
flowers two or three weeks earlier than 
the Japanese species, whereas the 
former flowers contemporaneously with 
that species during the first week 
of July. 
“Whatever may have,been its origin, 
the hybrid . . . is an erect, vigorous, 
and rapid-growing tree, with the thin, 
scaly bark of the American species. 
The leaves are sharply three-lobed, or 
rarely entire, and more or less cordate 
at the base; they are slightly pubescent 
on the lower surface, and the mid-rib 
and primary veins are covered with 
scattered hairs; they are 12 to 15 inches 
JOURNAL or Herepirty, 1914, 5:98-101. 
Garden and Forest, 1894, 7:434-436, 
JOURNAL or Herepiry, 1916, 7:311-319. 
Garden and Forest, 1889, 2:303-305. 
