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%4 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 % inch thick; hangs on 
tree all winter, opening in spring before falling; seeds light 
brown, 1 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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