CATALPA
Catalpa speciosa
Page [158]
A tall tree, 60 to 80 feet high, with a thick, slightly furrowed bark. Smooth, gray, coarse, stiff twigs. Oval leaf-scars arranged in whorls of three on the stem, or opposite each other. The buds are short and inconspicuous, with loose scales, The fruit is in long pods, hanging on the tree till spring.
The catalpa is an attractive tree in winter on account of the long slender pods which hang from the tips of the branches, and give the stout stems a light effect otherwise lacking, for taken alone they are coarse and bluntly moulded and very rigid. The name catalpa comes from an Indian word meaning winged head; and as the catalpa has dense, heavy foliage in summer and suggests solidity rather than the light effect “winged” conveys to one’s mind, it is just possible that the Indians referred to its winter aspect when they gave it the name. The buds open very late in the spring, giving the tree a lifeless appearance long after other trees are green.
The value of the catalpa as a timber tree is fast becoming recognized. It grows rapidly, with an average increase of an inch a year in the diameter of the trunk, and the wood is very durable in contact with the soil; when used for railroad ties it has been known to remain sound for over twenty years. Its practical value is shown by the experience of an Illinois farmer who planted five hundred acres of these trees, and after eight years’ growth thirteen thousand posts were cut and sold for thirteen hundred dollars, and the remaining trees were improved rather than harmed by this thinning out.
The Latin name, speciosa (well-formed), refers to the beautiful flowers of this tree. The catalpa grows wild in the Middle West, and is cultivated commonly in parks and gardens in the Northeastern States.
The Simaroubaceæ family is a small order of trees and shrubs found in the South, with one genus in the North, a cultivated and widely naturalized tree,—the ailanthus from China.
Ailanthus; Tree of Heaven Ailanthus glandulosa
A large tree, with gray bark. Very large, coarse twigs with brown pith. Large alternate leaf-scars, V-shaped, or heart-shaped, with numerous bundle-scars. The buds are small, round, and inconspicuous, and covered with two scales. The terminal buds are lacking. The fruit is winged, like that of the ash, but its seed is in the centre. The dry clusters of fruit hang on some trees through the winter.