54 
lis and its variety Moltkei, are trees of great beauty and remarkable 
rapidity of growth. 
Catalpas. Of trees which flower here in summer the Catalpas have 
the showiest flowers. All the species and one or two hybrids with 
the exception of the West Indian C. longissima are in the collection, 
although they are not large enough yet to flower here. The first 
Catalpa to attract attention, C. bignonioides, was cultivated early 
in the eighteenth century in England where it had been sent from 
South Carolina. About forty years ago it became known that a second 
species of Catalpa was growing naturally in the lower Ohio valley and 
southward along the Mississippi River as far as western Tennessee 
and northeastern Arkansas. It was found that this second Catalpa 
had larger flowers in fewer-flowered clusters than the more southern 
tree, that the inner surface of the corolla of the flowers had fewer 
and smaller spots than that of the other tree; that the pods containing 
the seeds were stouter and had thicker walls, and that the leaves were 
much longer-pointed at the apex. The name of C. speciosa was given 
to this tree, and as Catalpa wood is extremely durable when placed 
in the ground it has been largely planted, especially in some of the 
prairie states, to produce fence-posts for which it is admirably suited, 
and for railway ties for which it is too soft. Catalpa speciosa is a 
fast-growing and rather pyramidal tree which on the rich river bottom 
lands of the Mississippi sometimes rises to the height of one hundred 
and twenty feet and forms a tall trunk occasionally four and a half 
feet in diameter. In New England it is a fast-growing, more shapely 
and much hardier tree than C. bignonioides which blooms two or three 
weeks later. In the northern states, and probably in all parts of the 
country, the early-flowering C. speciosa is the Catalpa which is now 
commonly planted. There is a dwarf form, var. nana, of C. bignoni- 
oides which is usually known as C. Bungei in American nurseries where 
it is grafted as a standard on the stems of one of the tree Catalpas, 
and is popular at present for the supposed decoration of gardens which 
are more or less formal in character and pass in this country for 
“Italian gardens." It is not known at the Arboretum where this 
dwarf variety originated or that it has ever flowered. The name 
Catalpa Bungei properly belongs to the tree of northern China with 
narrow, dark green, long-pointed leaves, small yellowish white flowers 
and slender pods. This is not so handsome a tree as the American 
Catalpas but it is geographically interesting, and is perfectly hardy 
in the Arboretum where it is growing well. It has not yet flowered. 
Another Chinese species, C. ovata, sometimes called C. Kaempferi, is 
much cultivated in Japan whence it was sent to this country many 
years ago. It is a perfectly hardy little tree with comparatively small 
dark green leaves, many-flowered clusters of small yellowish spotted 
flowers and long slender pods. This Catalpa, which will thrive in re- 
gions too cold for the American species, has been somewhat planted in 
the United States, although as an ornamental tree it does not deserve 
much attention from the lovers of handsome trees. A hybrid (C. hy- 
brida) between C. bignonioides and C. ovata appeared several years ago 
in the nursery of J. C. Teas at Baysville, Indiana. This is a fast- 
growing and hardy tree with flowers like those of its American par- 
