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Divisipn of Forestry 

 University of California 



Issued April 30, 1907. 



United States Department of Agriculture, 



FOREST SERVICE CIRCULAR 82. 

 GIFFORD PINCHOT, Forester. 



FOREST PLANTING LEAFLET. 



HARDY CATALPA (Catalpa speciosa). 



FORM AND SIZE. 



The hardy catalpa is a tree of medium size, with slender branches 

 forming a spreading, round-topped head. Under average conditions 

 it grows to be from 50 to 70 feet high. In the forest it is straight 

 and tall, and occasionally attains a height of more than 100 feet and 

 a diameter of from 2 to 4 feet. Because of its frequent failure to form 

 a terminal bud the catalpa has a tendency to crooked growth, and 

 sometimes develops a short trunk with large branches close to the 

 ground. 



RANGE. 



The hardy catalpa in its natural range was confined to a very lim- 

 ited region, extending from the valley of the Vermilion River, in 

 Illinois, through southern Illinois and Indiana, western Kentucky 

 and Tennessee, southeastern Missouri, and northeastern Arkansas. 

 It was apparently distributed by backwaters along the overflow 

 lands of the Wabash River, up near-by creeks, and down the Ohio 

 and Mississippi rivers as far as New Madrid, Mo. In southeastern 

 Missouri it meets the common catalpa (Catalpa catalpa). The latter 

 species is indigenous to southwestern Georgia, western Florida, cen- 

 tral Alabama, and Mississippi, but is widely naturalized and culti- 

 vated east of the Rocky Mountains, growing as far north as eastern 

 New England. 



The hardy catalpa has been planted as far north as Turner County, 

 in South Dakota, southern Minnesota, southern Michigan, and south- 

 28386 No. 8207 M 



