Thursday, April 29, 2010

Catalpa bignonioides - Common Catalpa

Catalpa bignonioides: Catalpa is the North American Indian name for plants of this genus; bignonioides refers to the species' resemblance to Bignonia, the trumpet creeper.

Coarse textured, round-headed tree gives a tropical effect. Smaller than C. speciosa.

Enormous cordate (heart-shaped) leaves can be up to 13" long! Leaves have a vegetable scent when crushed.

Showy white salverform flowers with purple/brown/yellow spots in 7-8" racemes.

Cigar-shaped seed capsules in summer/fall. Compare to narrower seed capsules of C. speciosa.

1 comment:

  1. Thank you for such a helpful post! My daughter and I found a bunch of these trees in our new home town in South Dakota and your post helped us to identify them :)

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