Catalpa bungei Seeds | Manchurian Catalpa, Timber Form
LATIN NAME: Catalpa bungei
COMMON NAME: Manchurian Catalpa, Timber Form
Plant Profile
Catalpa bungei is a deciduous tree of the bignonia family, growing fifteen to twenty metres with a straight, clean trunk and a narrow crown. The leaves are large, heart-shaped and glossy, and the flowers, in June, are pale pink with purple and yellow markings inside a bell-shaped corolla.
It is native to the mountains of northern and central China, where it has been planted for centuries for timber. The wood is light, fine-grained and resistant to decay, and it is used for furniture, instrument boards and coffins, which is why old trees are valued and often protected. The trunk is one of the straightest of any Chinese hardwood, which is why it was planted near villages for beams.
Science & Biotechnology
The tree is one of the fastest-growing hardwoods in temperate China, putting on a metre or more a year in good soil, and it coppices readily. That combination makes it a candidate for short-rotation plantation, though the timber quality of fast-grown wood is lower than that of slow-grown material.
Catalpa is also the host of the catalpa sphinx moth, whose larvae can strip a tree in a fortnight, and of a wilt fungus that kills trees in wet, compacted sites. The nectar in the flowers is accessible to large bees and to hummingbirds in North America, where related species grow.
Uses & Benefits
Timber is the main product: the trunk is straight enough for veneer and for solid furniture, and the wood takes a fine finish. The tree is also planted as an ornamental for its flowers and for the tropical look of its leaves.
In Chinese practice the bark and fruit are used as a diuretic, and the leaf is applied to skin complaints. The seeds are winged and papery and are sometimes strung as beads. The tree is not a serious fodder or fruit crop, and the wood is the reason it is grown. The tree is also planted along field edges in northern China as a windbreak, since it grows fast enough to be useful within a decade and coppices after cutting.
Growing from Seed
Seed is easy: sow in spring at 20 to 25°C, lightly covered, and germination takes two to four weeks with no pretreatment. The seedlings are fast and can be planted out at one year.
Cuttings and root cuttings are used to keep a good timber form, since seedling shape varies. The tree wants deep, moist, fertile soil and full sun, and it is damaged by late frost when young. Space at six by six metres for timber, and prune to a single leader in the first three years, because forking ruins the trunk. Trees grown for timber are lifted as bare-root yearlings and planted before bud break. Established trees are deep-rooted and need little watering, but young plants must be kept free of grass for two seasons.
Our Take
A fast, handsome timber tree with a straight trunk and orchid-like flowers, worth planting for wood rather than for fruit.
Related Reading
Readers interested in Manchurian Catalpa frequently explore these as well: