A connected graph G is caterpillar-pure if each spanning tree of G is a caterpillar. The caterpillar-pure graphs are fully characterized. Loosely speaking they are strings or necklaces of so-called pearls, except for a number of small exceptional cases. An upper bound for the number of edges in terms of the order is given for caterpillar-pure graphs, and those which attain the upper bound are characterized.

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doi.org/10.1016/S0012-365X(03)00186-9, hdl.handle.net/1765/72992
Discrete Mathematics
Erasmus School of Economics

Jamison, R., McMorris, F. R., & Mulder, M. (2003). Graphs with only caterpillars as spanning trees. Discrete Mathematics, 272(1), 81–95. doi:10.1016/S0012-365X(03)00186-9