106 Botanical Department. [Bulletin 108 



without special botanical knowledge, a few salient characters may be 

 seized upon to distinguish the species in question. In the first place, 

 the fact that C. speciosa blooms about two weeks earlier than (7. ca- 

 talpa, bears larger and showier flowers, fewer in cluster, will usually 

 be a safe distinguishing feature. It cannot be too strongly urged 

 upon catalpa planters to groiv their own trees from seed. By this 

 means the danger of obtaining the undesirable species is greatly less- 

 ened, since careful study of the seed characters offers an additional 

 safeguard. If the prospective grower gathers his own seed, it will be 

 well to obtain it from mature trees, if possible, since the bark charac- 

 ters offer striking contrasts in the two species. The bark of O. catalpa 

 is scaly, peeling off in short strips, much as does that of the wild 

 cherry. Catalpa speciosa, on the other hand, like the ash or the box- 

 elder, has furrowed bark, not separating from the trunk in scales. 

 Plates 29 and 30 show quite well these contrasting characters. While 

 the pods of the hardy catalpa are usually longer, larger and straighter 

 than those of the Southeastern species, this is not an invariable rule. 

 The seeds of Catalpa speciosa, however, are quite readily distinguished 

 from those of C. catalpa, in the fact that they are wider, have usually 

 a more pronounced notch between the wings, and the tips of the lat- 

 ter are fringed with a brush of hairs which stand squarely out from 

 the wings and are not drawn into narrow points ( plates 34 and 35 ) . 

 Catalpa kwmpferi and its hybrids have the hairs on the seeds ar- 

 ranged much as in C. speciosa, but the seeds themselves are so much 

 smaller and narrower that no confusion is possible (plate 36). 



DURABILITY OF CATALPA TIMBER. 



Out of the vast mass of testimony on this point it will suffice to 

 cite a few authorities : 



In the Indiana Geological Survey for 1873, page 364, Prof. John 

 Collet mentions an instance of a catalpa gate-post set in the ground 

 near a schoolhouse in 1780, which, 'when cut up for fire- wood in 1871, 

 was found still to be in fair condition. He further states that catalpa 

 posts, set by General Harrison about the governor's residence in 1808, 

 "were taken up a few years ago, and, being sound, were reset in 

 another place." 



Prof. T. J. Burrill, of the University of Illinois, obtained, in 1876, 

 boards from a catalpa log two feet in diameter, which, according to 

 testimony considered reliable by him, had lain on the ground about 

 twelve miles from Cairo, 111., for a period of 100 years. 



In response to an inquiry, Doctor Burrill confirms the fact just re- 

 cited in a letter dated February 24, 1902, as follows : 



"Referring to the statement published in 1879 by Mr. E.E. Barney, I will say 

 that I did secure from the Mississippi river bottoms, in Alexander county, Illinois, 



