THE CATALAPA FOR MINNESOTA. 255 
in Minnesota was taken up by the late Dr. John A. Warder, a distinguished 
botanist of his time, who resided at Cincinnati, Ohio, and who contended, in 
an article which was published in one of the magazines at the time, that 
Col. Stevens must certainly be mistaken, as the catalpa was a tender tree and 
could not have been found growing wild as far north as Minnesota. This 
statement seemed quite conclusive, coming as it did from such undoubted 
authority. 
At the meeting of the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society, held in 
St. Louis in 1882, the writer, in conversation with Dr. Warder, referred to 
the catalpa. ““Why,” says he, “Col. Stevens evidently don’t know what a 
catalpa is! They are as tender as the peach, and if you can grow the catalpa 
up there in Minnesota you can grow peaches.” 
Notwithstanding the confidence I had in the Colonel’s integrity and his 
knowledge of forestry, I was not prepared to meet that statement at the 
time. Some time after the veritable catalpa was pointed out to me, growing 
on Mark Berry’s grounds, on Tenth street, Minneapolis, nearly opposite the 
Colonel’s residence. It has been frequently claimed that there were two 
varieties, the one hardy and the other more tender, yet so much alike in ap- 
pearance that it was impossible to distinguish them apart. Since the ques- 
tion of hardiness has been practically settled, the trees have been much 
sought after by parties who wish to adorn and beautify their home grounds, 
by giving to them, in effect, a tropical appearance from the growth of those 
exceedingly large, heart-shaped leaves and beautiful spikes of bloom, with 
which the catalpa is crowned. 
The name ca-tal-pa is of Indian origin, so-called by the Indians of 
Carolina, where Catesby discovered this tree in the year 1726. It is the 
Catalpa bignonia of Linn, and Catalpa syringifolia of others. The tree was 
originally found along the eastern Atlantic slope, from Maryland to the 
peninsula of Florida, and also in the Mississippi valley, from the northern 
parallel of Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. Authorities have been unde- 
cided whether there is more than one distinct variety, some contending that 
there are two or more. The late Dr. Warder, of whom I have spoken, 
thought the eastern and western were different, and so gave the western 
tree the name Catalpa speciosa. 
We leave this matter of doubt to those whom it may concern, and look 
more closely into the hardiness of the tree, a matter of greater interest to 
this society, since most authors agree that the tree is not sufficiently hardy 
for the climate of Minnesota. 
Frank J. Scott, in his excellent work, entitled “Suburban Home 
Grounds,” gives a somewhat favorable impression in regard to the hardiness 
of the tree. He says, “Though planted largely in the northern states and 
considered hardy, its beauty would be more uniform, and we should oftener 
see fine specimens if, when first planted, it were regarded as half-hardy and 
cared for accordingly.” Most authorities, however, claim that it will not 
stand the climate in localities where the temperature goes much lower than 
twenty degrees below zero. There is one point, however, which seems to be 
conceded, that the western catalpa is more hardy than the eastern. 
In the rich bottom lands along the rivers of the southern states this 
tree often attains a height of from seventy to eighty feet, and a diameter of 
two to three feet. In the more northerly states, it usually grows to the 
height of from twenty to forty feet. Its branches are wide-spreading, coarse 
