BIGNONIA FAMILY 



Corolla . Campanulate, tube swollen, slightly oblique, two-lipped, 

 five-lobed, the two lobes above smaller than the three below, im- 

 bricate in bud ; limb spreading, undulate, when fully expanded is 

 an inch and a half wide and nearly two inches long, white, marked 

 on the inner surface with two rows of yellow blotches and in the 

 throat on the lower lobes with purple spots. 



Stamens. Two, rarely four, inserted near the base of the corolla, 

 introrse, slightly exserted ; anthers oblong, two-celled, opening 

 longitudinally ; filaments flattened, thread-like. Sterile filaments 

 three, inserted near base of corolla, often rudimentary. 



Pistil. Ovary superior, two-celled ; style long, thread-like, with 

 a two -lipped stigma. Ovules numerous. 



Fruit. Long slender capsule, nearly cylindrical, two-celled, 

 partition at right angles to the valves, Six to twenty inches long, 

 brown ; hangs on the tree all winter, splitting before it falls. Seeds 

 an inch long, one-fourth of an inch wide, silvery gray, winged on 

 each side and ends of wings fringed. 



The Catalpa shares with the Horse-chestnut the distinc- 

 tion of bearing the most showy flowers of all our ornamental 

 trees. Its value in this respect has long been recognized 

 and to-day it holds an assured place in the parks and gardens 

 of all temperate countries. 



In the northern states it is a late bloomer, putting forth 

 great panicles of white flowers the last of June or early in 

 July when the flowers of other trees have mostly faded. 

 These cover the tree so thickly as almost to conceal the 

 full grown leaves. The general effect of the flower cluster is 

 a pure white, but the individual corolla is spotted with purple 

 and gold, and some of these spots are arranged in lines along 

 a ridge, so as to lead directly to the honey sweets within. A 

 single flower when fully expanded is two inches long and an 

 inch and a half wide. It is two-lipped and the lips are lobed, 

 two lobes above and three below, as is not uncommon with 

 such corollas. The flower is perfect, possessing both stamens 

 and pistils ; nevertheless, the law of elimination is at work and 

 of the five stamens that we should expect to find, three have 

 aborted, ceased to bear anthers and have become filaments 

 simply. Then, too, the flowers refuse to be self-fertilized. 

 Each flower has its own stamens and its own stigma and the 

 natural conclusion is that the home pollen should fall upon 



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