×Chitalpa
A single hybrid "species" was developed in the 1960s in Uzbekistan at the Tashkent Botanical Garden. The hybrid is from a cross between two species native to North America, Catalpa bignonoides (Southern Catalpa) and Chilopsis linearis (Desert Willow). Cuttings of the hybrid were brought to North America in 1977 by the Cary Arboretum of the New York Botanical Garden and propagated. Two forms were observed, one with deep pink flowers (Clone no. 1) and the other having pale pink flowers (Clone no. 2). Rooted cuttings of both types were distributed to arboreta/botanical gardens in 1982, essentially the source of all plant material commercially available in the U.S. The original hybrid and the two clones were "officially" named and described by botanists at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens in 1991 (Elias, T.S. and W. Wirsura 1991. Baileya 23:139-144).
Chitalpa: derived from the names of the two genera used in the cross, Chilopsis and Catalpa.