Southern Catalpa
Catalpa bignonioides · Bignoniaceae · 꽃개오동
How to spot it
Told from the northern catalpa (C. speciosa) by later flowering, more purple spots on the flowers, and foul-smelling leaves.
Look
- Leaves
- Large heart-shaped simple leaves up to 25 cm long and 15 cm wide, with an unpleasant smell when rubbed.
- Flowers
- In early summer, white bell-shaped flowers (about 4 cm wide) open in panicles 15 to 30 cm long, with yellow ridges and many purple spots inside, and a pleasant scent.
- Fruit
- Slender capsules (bean-pod shaped) up to 38 cm long ripen dark brown in autumn and split lengthwise; the seeds mature in October to December.
- Bark
- Dark gray bark that cracks lengthwise.
Where it grows
- Native to
- Native to the southeastern United States (Gulf coast states from Florida to Texas, and Georgia).
- Ecology
- A host plant for two native moths, including the catalpa sphinx, whose larvae are important food for birds and bats; the flowers attract bees.