Genus CATALPA, Juss. 
Bignoniaceoe. Diandria Monogynia. 
S * at - Nat - Syft.Lin. 
Synonymes. 
Catalpa, Bignonia, Of Authors. 
Derivations. The word Catalpa is supposed to be corrupted from an Indian name of a tree belonging to this genua ; and 
Bignonia was so called by Tournefort, in compliment to the Abbe Bignon, librarian to Louis XIV. ^ ' 
Generic Characters Calyx 2-parted. Corolla campanulate, with a ventricose tube, and an unequal 1- 
lobed limb. Stamens 5, 2 of which are fertile, and 3 of them sterile. Stigma bilamellate. Capsule 
sihque-formed, long, cylindrical, 2-valved. Dissepiment opposite the valves. Seeds membranous.y 
margined, and pappose at the base and apex. Don, Miller's Diet. 
I HE genus Catalpa was constituted by Jussieu from the Bignonia 
catalpa of Tournefort, and comprises but one species, native of 
North America. Nearly allied to the same natural family is 
the order Scrophulariacege, which embraces that magnificent tree, 
the Paulownia imperialism so called by Sieber, in honour of the 
Hereditary Princess of the Netherlands, who was daughter to the 
Emperor of Russia. The leaves of the Paulownia are cordate, deeply serrated, and 
slightly ciliated, having the general appearance of those of a gigantic sun-flower. 
The flowers, which put forth in April or May, are blue, resembling those of the 
Gloxinia caulescens, and have an agreeable odour, somewhat like that of the 
mock orange, (Philadelphus coronarius.) but less powerful. This tree is a 
native of Japan, and was introduced into Britain in 1S40, and into France two 
or three years before that date. It has proved quite hardy in the Jardin des 
Plantes, at Paris, where it withstood the winter of 1838-9 without any covering 
and in 1842, had acquired the height of twenty feet, producing leaves two feet in 
diameter. The plants at Trianon have been much more rapid in their growth, 
having made shoots from twelve to fourteen feet in length in a single year. This 
species was introduced into the United States, in 1843, by Messrs. Parsons, of 
Flushing, near New York, where it remained in the open air, without any cov- 
ering, during the last eight years. It has since been propagated in several nur- 
series in the union, and bids fair to be a great addition to our shrubberies and 
ornamental plantations, particularly in situations where immediate eifect is the 
object. It is easily propagated by cuttings of the roots, put into thumb-pots, and 
will grow in any common garden soil; but it thrives best in one that is dry, ami 
somewhat loamy. 
