BIGNONIACEAE 



Hardy Catalpa 



Catalpa speciosa, Warder 



HABIT.^A tree 50-75 feet high, with a short, often crooked 

 trunk and a broad, rounded crown of slender, spreading branches 

 and thick branchlets. 



LEAVES. Opposite or whorled, simple, 8-12 inches long, 

 6-8 inches broad; heart-shaped; entire or sometimes slightly 

 lobed ; thick and firm ; glabrous, dark green above, downy be- 

 neath, with clusters of dark, nectariferous glands in the axils of 

 the primary veins, turning black and falling with the first severe 

 frost; petioles long, stout, terete. 



FLOWERS. June-July, after the leaves are full grown; 

 perfect ; borne on slender, purplish pedicels in open, few-flowered 

 panicles 5-6 inches long; calyx 2-lobed, purple; corolla white with 

 inconspicuous yellow spots, campanulate, 5-lobed, 2^/2 inches 

 broad ; stamens 2, staminodia 3 ; ovary 2-celled. 



FRUIT. Ripens in early autumn ; slender, 2-celled, cylindri- 

 cal capsule 10-20 inches long and about ^2 inch thick ; hangs on 

 tree all winter, opening in spring before falling; seeds light 

 brown, i inch long, with rounded, wide-fringed wings at each 

 end. 



WINTER-BUDS. Terminal bud absent; lateral buds 

 brownish, globose, inconspicuous. 



BARK. Twigs greenish, often with purple tinge, becoming 

 orange or red-brown and covered with a slight bloom the first 

 winter, finally darker with age ; thick, red-brown, broken into 

 thick scales on the trunk. 



WOOD. Light, soft, weak, coarse-grained, light brown, 

 with very thin, almost white sapwood; very durable in contact 

 with the soil. 



NOTES. A native of Illinois, Indiana, and the states ad- 

 joining on the south, but much planted in Michigan ,as a shade 

 and ornamental tree. Closely resembles C. bignonioides, but is a 

 larger and hardier tree. 



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