FREE: Indian Bean Tree Seeds

The listing, Indian Bean Tree Seeds has ended.

(Catalpa syringaefolia, Sims; Bignonia Catalpa, Linné; Catalpa cordifolia, Nuttall).
Nat. Ord.—Bignoniaceae.
COMMON NAMES: Cigar-tree, Catalpa-tree, Bean-tree, Indian bean-tree.
ILLUSTRATIONS: Michaux, F. Sylv., Vol. II, Plate 64; Bot. Mag., Plate 1094.

Botanical Source.—This handsome tree has leaves that are large, heart-shaped, opposite or disposed in whorls of 3. The flowers appear in June and July, and are produced in large, showy, terminal, compound panicles. The corollas are about an inch long, white, tinged with purple, and studded with orange spots in the tubes. They are bell-shaped, with a swollen tube, irregularly 5-lobed and 2-lipped. The fruit is a slender, 2-celled capsule, about 1 foot long, 1/4 of an inch thick, and hangs suspended until spring. The seeds are numerous and winged.

History.—This tree is a native of the southern United States, but is cultivated as an ornamental tree and frequently naturalized in the northern states. It belongs to the natural order Bignoniaceae, and, except a western states species, the Catalpa speciosa of Warder, is the only indigenous species of Catalpa, although others are found in Asia and the West Indies. The tree is called "cigar-tree," or "bean-tree," names derived from the slender fruit. The fruit and seeds have also been used.

Description.—The bark of the trunk is scaly, brown, and from 3 to 6 lines in thickness. That of the young limbs, is smooth, dark-grayish, and spotted with lighter colored excrescences. The young bark, and the inner portion of the old, is bitter. Catalpa wood is very durable, rivalling cedar. It is hard, grayish, and of coarse fiber.