476 AMERICAN FOREST TREES 



The range of hardy catalpa before the species was spread by arti- 

 ficial planting, was through southern Illinois and Indiana, southeastern 

 Missouri and northeastern Arkansas, western Louisiana and eastern 

 Texas, and western Kentucky and Tennessee. Its position on the fertile 

 banks of streams, and on flood plains subject to frequent inundation, 

 indicates that the spread of the species was effected by running water. 

 In that case, the dispersal of seeds would be down stream, implying that 

 the starting place of the species was along the lower reaches of the 

 Wabash river. 



The catalpa may reach a height of 100 or 120 feet and a diameter 

 of four feet; but few trees attain that size. The leaves are ten or twelve 

 inches long and seven or eight wide, and are considerably larger than 

 those of common catalpa. The flowers appear late in May or early in 

 June, and are showy. The prevailing colors are white and purple, and 

 the blossoms are about two niches long and two and a half wide. 



The fruit is a pod from eight to twenty inches long, and the enclosed 

 seeds are nearly an inch long, shaped like beans. The trees are prolific 

 bearers. 



The tree is known by several names in different parts of its range, 

 including the territory where it is known only from plantings. It is 

 called western catalpa to distinguish it from the other species found 

 farther east and south. In Missouri and Iowa it is known as cigar tree. 

 The name Indian bean is an allusion to the large seeds. Shawneewood 

 is another name referring to the supposed interest of Indians in the tree. 

 Shawnee was the name of a tribe of Indians in the Ohio valley in early 

 times. 



The wood weighs less than twenty-six pounds per cubic foot, and is 

 soft and weak. It is rated very durable in contact with the soil, and this 

 is one of the chief advantages claimed for it. The annual rings are clear- 

 ly marked by several bands or rows of large open ducts, and the denser 

 summerwood forms a narrow band. The medullary rays are numerous 

 and obscure. The heartwood is brown, the sapwood lighter. In appear- 

 ance, the heartwood suggests butternut, but it is coarser, and lacks the 

 gloss shown by polished butternut. Quarter-sawing produces no figure, 

 but when sawed at right angles to the radial lines, the annual rings are 

 cut in a way to give figure resembling that of ash or chestnut. 



The wood of this catalpa has been thoroughly tried out for a 

 number of purposes. Furniture and finish have been made of it with 

 varying success, and molding and picture frames are listed among its 

 uses. It is not a sawlog tree. Statistics of lumber cut seldom mention 

 it, though now and then a log finds its way to a mill. Efforts have been 

 made to pass the wood as mahogany, but with poor success. The 



