304 TREES OF MINNESOTA. 



BIGNONIACEAE. BIGNONIA FAMILY* 



Genus CATAI/PA. 



A genus of four or five species of trees, natives of the West 

 Indies, North America, Japan and China. Leaves simple, op- 

 posite or in whorls of three. Flowers in terminal panicles; 

 calyx deeply two-lipped; corolla inflated, bell-shaped, the five- 

 lobed border more or less two-lipped and wavy. Fruit a long 

 slender hanging pod; seed, two-winged with silky fringe. 



Catalpa speciosa. Hardy Catalpa. Western Catalpa. 



Leaves large, opposite or in threes, heart-shaped at base, 

 long-pointed, thick, firm, dark green above, falling after the 

 first severe autumn frost. Flowers appear in June in large 

 panicles, very conspicuous and pretty; corolla about two inches 

 long, nearly white, faintly spotted, the lower lobes notched; 

 calyx purple. Fruit nine to twenty inches long, about one-half 

 inch in diameter at the middle and tapering towards both ends. 

 It ripens in autumn, generally remains on the tree until spring, 

 and then splits into two concave valves. The seed is light 

 brown, about an inch long and one-third of an inch wide; the 

 wings are rounded at the ends and terminate with a fringe of 

 silky hairs. The ends of the branches die in winter without 

 forming a terminal bud. A large and important tree in the 

 forests within its range, where it attains a height of over 100 

 feet and a diameter of three to four and one-half feet. 



Distribution. Borders of streams and lakes and fertile and 

 inundated bottom lands in southern Illinois and Indiana, west- 

 ern Kentucky and Tennessee, southeastern Missouri and north- 

 eastern Arkansas. 



Propagation. By seeds, and it is said by cuttings. 



Properties of wood. Soft, light, not strong, coarse grained, 

 very durable in contact with soil. Specific gravity 0.4165; 

 weight of a cubic foot 25.96 pounds. 



Uses. The Hardy Catalpa is not a very hardy tree in this 

 section, and probably most of the specimens of it growing north 

 of central Iowa arc more or less injured by our winters; but 

 they often hold on well in favorable locations as far north as St. 

 Paul and Minneapolis, and form good small trees. They are 



