×Chitalpa tashkentensis
Sponsor
Kindly sponsored by
Nicholas Barber CBE
Credits
Martin Deasy (2025)
Recommended citation
Deasy, M. (2025), '×Chitalpa tashkentensis' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.
Family
- Bignoniaceae
Genus
- ×Chitalpa
- Chilopsis linearis × Catalpa × galleana (Catalpa ovata × Catalpa speciosa)
Infraspecifics
Other taxa in genus
Large shrubs or single- or (often) multi-stemmed small to medium-sized trees to 10 m, forming a broad, dense crown. The leaves are deciduous, 10–17 × 2–4.5 cm, alternate or rarely opposite or ternate, lanceolate to ovate, the upper surface dull green, the lower lighter green and pilose, the margins entire, the apex attenuate; the petiole is distinct, 1–2.5 cm long. The inflorescences are terminal, erect and racemose or paniculate, with 15–60 flowers. The flowers are hermaphrodite, zygomorphic, the corolla tubular with five lobes, to 2.5 cm long, white to pink; the corolla lobes are frilled, the two upper lobes unmarked, the two lateral lobes and one lower lobe with interconnected purple lines entering the corolla. Fruit is not produced, due to hybrid sterility. In the United States the flowers appear from May to September. (Elias & Wisura 1991; Barnes 2000).
USDA Hardiness Zone 6
RHS Hardiness Rating H4
This name is given to the progeny (in practice, cultivars derived from artificial crosses) of Chilopsis linearis and Catalpa × galleana. The parent species occur in the southern United States and China respectively; the hybrid only occurs in cultivation and was bred at the Uzbek Academy of Sciences Botanical Garden in Tashkent, Uzbekistan by N.F. Rusanov. For more extensive discussion, see the genus entry for ×Chitalpa. The name ×Chitalpa tashkentensis was previously applied to the cross between Catalpa bignonioides (seed parent) and Chilopsis linearis (pollen parent), but the parentage of the type (the named variety ‘Pink Dawn’) was subsequently revealed to be Chilopsis linearis (seed parent) and Catalpa × galleana (pollen parent).
'Minsum'
Synonyms / alternative names
×Chitalpa tashkentensis SUMMER BELLS
Frilly pink flowers, yellow-throated, rounded in habit (Dirr 1998). Selected and introduced by the French nursery Pépinières Minier in 1998 (Pépinières Minier 2025). The precise parentage is unclear.
'NCXC1'
Synonyms / alternative names
×Chitalpa tashkentensis EL NIÑO®
×Chitalpa tashkentensis 'Desert Orchid'
Narrowly ovate, deep green, conspicuously veined leaves and large inflorescences of up to 60 purplish-red flowers. Cold-hardy to at least Zone 6b. A selection from a 2005 cross between Chilopsis linearis ‘Bubba’ (seed parent) and unnamed selection of Catalpa × galleana (pollen parent) made as part of a planned breeding programme at a research nursery in Mills River, North Carolina (US Plant Patent 35880) (Ranney et al. 2024). Excelled in trials at Louisiana State University, where it grew and flowered abundantly through the 2023 drought that killed other trial plants (Shinn 2025). Introduced by Proven Winners.
'Pink Dawn'
Lanceolate leaves, and flowers of pale lavender pink, yellow-throated. This cultivar is the type of ×Chitalpa tashkentensis, bred by N.F. Rusanov at the Uzbek Academy of Sciences Botanical Garden in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Introduced to the United States in 1977; it does not appear to have been commercially available in Britain until the mid 2000s, several years after ‘Summer Bells’ was first offered (it was listed as ‘new’ in the RHS Plant Finder 2005–2006 – Philip 2005).
'Strawberry Moon'
A medium-sized tree with pink flowers and ovate green leaves, occasionally lobed. Inflorescences are c. 25 cm long, consisting of 30–50 flowers with frilled lobes. The original tree had attained 11.7 m after 12 years. This cultivar is a triploid hybrid selected from a controlled cross made in 2008 between tetraploid ×Chitalpa tashkentensis ‘Pink Dawn’ and diploid Catalpa ovata. From the Chilopsis female parent is derived the flower colour, with Catalpa ovata contributing resistance to powdery mildew and added intensity of flower colour. ‘Strawberry Moon’ was bred by Richard Olsen at the United States National Arboretum, and released in 2023. Propagation is by softwood cuttings or chip-budding or grafting onto C. speciosa stocks (United States National Arboretum 2023). As a triploid, the cultivar’s near-sterility results in less litter from fruits and spent flowers.