許清曉(Clement C.S.Hsu, MD): Desert Willow around Tom Muehlenbeck Recreation Center---休閒中心停車場的沙漠花柳

(Difficult to focus in the wind!)

In April of 2012, over the
parking area of the Tom Muehlenbeck Recreation Center where I go to swim every
week for the past 6 months, there are about 40-50 small trees with many
clusters of pale pink flowers. The
flowers, like many others that I have noted on the side of the suburban
city of Plano, are very exquisitely designed by nature.

These trees and flowers
on the parking lot, although all look alike, narrow leaves, trumpet-shaped
flower trunk, and ruffled flower petals, there appear to have two slightly
different kinds: one has paler flowers with broader leaves, and the other more
pinkish or reddish purplish flowers with narrower leaves. I started to notice them when they bloomed in
April and May, and took some pictures of them with my iPhone camera.

I inquired the Rec Center
personnel the name of the trees. They
called some office right away and gave me the name. It is called “Desert Willow”. From there I got more information via google.

This short tree is called Desert
Willow because it is heat tolerant, required little water, and the leaves shaped
like those of willows (Salix spp.). It
is also called Flowering Willow. Chilopsis linearis is the scientific name. It
is heat and drought tolerant, and is spread around Southwest US. It is also
considered Texas native flowers. It is a favorite kind of tree for public
places because of its ease to care. It can be pruned to make any shape or size
(I doubt it can become a tiny bonsai).

The paler and slightly larger
flowers should be a hybrid between Chilopsis linearis and Catalpa bignonioides,
called Chitalpa tashkentensis, or Morning Cloud (a somewhat different colored
ones is called Pink Dawn.) Pretty names. (The name Chitalpa is also the hybrid
of Chilopsis and Catalpa)

But it seems some experts do not
seem to think Chitalpa and Chilopsis are different. U of Texas, Austin website
showed the Chitalpa picture as the Chilopsis linearis, the leaves of which is
much wider than the willow that I attached earlier.

The flowers persisted through the
fall, though the number became less and less.
Finally, in January, leaves are all gone. This reminds me of human life. Stronger ones
live longer. However, though we took it granted and never gave it a second thought, amazingly, the same trees
will come back to life again only after a few months of rest.

Oh, how man wishes to have plant's vitality,

reborn to the world anew after only a brief sleep

bustling with spirit and beauty,

waving and singing,

dancing in the wind, that spreads the seeds,

of life and hope, joy and felicity!!

前年的秋天開始到德州Plano社區休閒中心 (Tom Muehlenbeck Recreation
Center) 游泳。起初幾個月車子開進露天停車場，一下車就走進建築內去了。但是過了半年的四月，注意到這個露天停車場，種植了四、五十株的矮樹，每一株都開滿了花。仔細一看，是很艷麗紫色或粉紅色喇叭型波狀皺邊的花，樹葉是窄長型的，像是柳樹。尤其是紫色花，特別有吸引力，只不知道是甚麼花樹。心中好奇，不知道這種花樹的名字叫做甚麼。想到這種樹應該是Plano市政府集體重植的，應該可以請休閒中心櫃檯人員向市政府負責人員查詢。他們立即拿起電話替我查詢，到我游泳完畢時，就有了答案。

這種矮樹叫做Desert
Willow (沙漠柳)，因為葉的形狀像是柳樹葉，又叫做Flowering
Willow。Google一查，它的學名叫做Chilopsis
linealis，是在美國西南方雨量少的地帶生長的落葉花樹，如果年雨量超過十英吋，就要種植在高處。它的高度不會超出五米左右，寬度也是是差不多。因為耐熱，又容易修整，不需要多少功夫照護就能生長，所以是Dallas地區公共場所常見。

(風中搖曳的花很難對準焦距)

(手機照的，相片需要旋轉90度，但轉不過來!!)

仔細看，花樹有兩種，一種開的是比較紫色、紫紅色，花朵較小的，樹葉比較窄長；另外一種是花朵較大，顏色比較淡的。查了Google資料，得知Chilopsis linealis還會和另一種Catalpa bignonioides混種，成為Chitalpa tashkentensis，又叫做Morning Cloud “晨雲”，呈稍微不同顏色，又叫做 Pink Dusk “粉紅的黎明”，好美麗的名字! 從google images看來，停車場裡比較大、比較淡色的花樹，應該就是Chitalpa tashkentensis。不過我從各個學校網站的花，越看越不清楚哪是哪。只能確定的是紫色、紅紫色的叫做Chilopsis linealis。