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 beneath, 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, 2-1/2 inches broad; stamens 2, staminodia 3; ovary 2-celled.
FRUIT.—Ripens in early autumn; slender, 2-celled, cylindrical capsule 10-20 inches long and about 1/2 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,