The Catalpas 



catalpas. The shores of Bay Biscayne, in southeastern Florida, 

 form the outpost of its extensive West Indian and Central Amer- 

 ican range. Its flower is a solitary, purplish-yellow tube with a 

 flaring border. The leaf is obovate, leathery, dark green, with 

 perfectly plain margin. The fruit is a berry, 3 or 4 inches long, 

 and shaped like a peach or plum. Its hard, shiny shell encloses 

 many flattish seeds. 



The gourd-like fruit of the West Indian calabash tree (C. 

 Cujete, Linn.) is made into drinking-cups and a great variety 

 of culinary utensils. It is much larger than that of the preceding 

 species. 



The Paulownia (Paulownia iniperialis, Sieb. & Zucc.) is 

 a member of the spurge family, not so far away from the catalpa, 

 botanically speaking. Indeed, an untrained eye detects the 

 similarity in foliage, flowers and general habit of the two trees. 

 In lustiness of growth each excels in many regions where tropical 

 profusion of leafage and bloom is exceptional. 



The paulownia blossoms before the leaves; its clustered 

 violet flowers hung out on the ends of twigs look like foxgloves. 

 Showy as these are, they need the leaf background— the lack of it 

 scores against them among critical admirers of ornamental trees. 

 The clustered seed balls, too, are unsightly in winter, requiring 

 to be cut off. 



A very satisfying screen of verdure is renewed every season 

 by cutting back to one or two stalks seedlings of paulownia. 

 The heart-shaped leaves are often a foot across. The hardiness 

 of the tree commends it. Even as far north as Montreal it comes 

 up from roots every year, forming long shoots which bear leaves 

 astonishingly large compared with trees indigenous to the region. 



In spite of the drawbacks named, this tree enjoys a growing 

 popularity in the eastern half of the country. Its flowers are 

 deliciously fragrant, and no tree blossom has more delicate colour. 

 Blue is unusual among tree blossoms, and these trees, like great 

 blue-flowered catalpas, are striking objects in parks and along 

 avenues. Native of Japan and China, the paulownia feels enough 

 at home already in America to run wild in some places. A 

 splendid evergreen species has been found in the Himalayas. 



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