Catalpa brevipes Urb.

  • Authority

    Gentry, Alwyn H. 1992. Bignoniaceae--part II (Tribe Tecomeae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 25: 1-370. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Bignoniaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Catalpa brevipes Urb.

  • Type

    Type. Cuba. Oriente: Península de Cabo Cruz, S of Niguero, Ekman 16166 (holotype, B; isotype, S).

  • Synonyms

    Catalpa oblongata Urb. & Ekman, Catalpa ekmaniana Urb., Catalpa brevipes var. oblongata (Urb. & Ekman) Paclt, Catalpa brevipes var. ekmaniana (Urb.) Paclt

  • Description

    Species Description - Small tree, the slender branchlets terete with small round lenticels, lepidote and minutely puberulous. Leaves simple, opposite or in whorls of three, elliptic or ovate to elliptic-oblong, the apex rounded or obtuse, the base rounded, 1.5-6 cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, coriaceous, lepidote above and below, otherwise glabrous above, below pubescent on the strongly and intricately prominent tertiary venation, with plate-shaped glands at base of the midvein below, the margin essentially entire, sometimes very inconspicuously erose, the petioles 0.3-1.5 cm long, lepidote and puberulous. Inflorescence a lax, few-several-flowered panicle, the branches lepidote and puberulous, the linear bracts 1-2 mm long. Calyx 2-lobed, split to the base, the lobes broadly rounded, 5-7 mm long and wide, more or less lepidote; corolla white with yellow and purple markings in throat, campanulate, ca. 1.5 cm long, generally glabrous, with tiny sessile glands on lobes; stamens two, the thecae divaricate, 2 mm long; pistil ca. 1 cm long, the ovary oblong, lepidote, the style shortly puberulous toward base. Fruit a linear capsule, 8-32 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, longitudinally striate-ridged, lepidote or slightly puberulous; seeds strongly plumose-pubescent, the body linear-fusiform, 0.5-0.8 mm long, 6-10 mm wide, pilose with trichomes to ca. 1 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Very close to C. purpurea but differs in the smaller white flowers and generally smaller leaves.

  • Objects

    Specimen - 01313756, Fr. León 16326, Catalpa brevipes Urb., Bignoniaceae (293.0), Magnoliophyta; West Indies, Cuba, Granma

  • Distribution

    Haiti, southwesternmost Dominican Republic, and the Cabo Cruz area of the Cuban Oriente, mostly on coastal limestone.

    Cuba South America| Granma Cuba South America| Haiti South America| Dominican Republic South America| Azua Dominican Republic South America|