The two types of trees called Chitalpa were created as hybrids by A. Rusanov of the Botanic Garden of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences in Uzbekistan (then part of the Soviet Union) in 1964.

Unbeknownst to the scientist, the Chilopsis used for the hybrid was infected with the bacterial plant pathogen Xylella fastidiosa.

Due to the fact that all Chitalpas today were bred from the original root stock, all species have the pathogen.

These two forms were distributed in 1982, and all living plants of this intergeneric hybrid in North America are believed to have originated from this single introduction.

[2] Although the two forms were later shown to be distinct crosses in Rusanov's experiments, they are both called 'Chitalpa', as Thomas Elias and Walter Wisura from the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic garden created the name and applied it to both types in 1991.