2. Catalpa ovata G. Don (Chinese catalpa)
Pl. 304 d; Map
1283
Plants
eventually becoming trees to 15 m tall, but already flowering when still a
shrub 1 m tall. Bark gray to grayish brown, divided into shallow furrows and
thin plates on older trunks. Leaf blades 8–25 cm long, entire or more commonly
shallowly 3-lobed or 3-angled toward the middle, noticeably tapered at the tip,
the surfaces glabrous or minutely pubescent with short, straight hairs along
the veins when young and then becoming glabrous or nearly so at maturity.
Calyces 6–9 mm long. Corollas 2.0–2.5 cm long, light yellow, the middle lobe of
the lower lip not notched. Fruits 20–35 cm long, 0.5–0.7 cm in diameter,
relatively thin-walled, the valves becoming flattened after dehiscence. Seeds
with the body 6–8 mm long, 2.5–4.5 mm wide, the hairs of the tufts more or less
parallel. 2n=40. May–June.
Introduced,
known thus far only from Boone and Crawford Counties (native of China;
introduced sporadically in the eastern U.S.). Roadsides and open, disturbed
areas.
This species is
far less commonly cultivated in the United States than are the two North
American species. As in C. bignonioides, the leaves have a strong
unpleasant odor when crushed or bruised.