Scientific Name: Catalpa speciosa
Common Name: western catalpa, northern catalpa
Family Name: Bignoniaceae
Origin: U.S. - central, U.S. - southeast
Hardiness Zone: Zone 5: (-29 to -23 °C)
Plant Type: Tree - deciduous
Mature Size: 10 - 15m x 10 - 15m (height x width)
Habit: Irregular, Open
Form: Oval - vertical
Texture: Coarse
Landscape Uses: Specimen plant
Exposure: Full sun, Part sun/part shade
Soil or Media: Well-drained
Leaves: Simple, Opposite, Whorled, Soft flexible, Pubescent, Ovate, Entire
Flowers: Thyrse, White, Yellow, Violet, Jun-Jul
Fruit: Capsule, Brown, Sep-Oct, (Persistent)
Key ID Features:
Leaves mostly opposite, blades ovate, most 20-30cm long x 10-20cm wide, entire with tomentose undersides, petioles 6-9cm long; florets in white, large, and showy "panicles". Winter ID: fruit to 30cm long, bean-like capsule containing a fringed seed (braoder with ends less tapered with more but shorter hairs than southern catalpa); buds globular, flattened, 1-2mm wide; leaf scars concave, circular, three per node with many bundle scars arranged in a ring.