Chinese Catalpa
Catalpa ovata · Bignoniaceae · 개오동
How to spot it
A combination of broad leaves with 3 to 5 lobes, yellowish-white flowers with yellow lines and purple spots, and long linear fruit 20 to 36 cm long.
Look
- Leaves
- Broadly egg-shaped, 10 to 25 cm long, usually with 3 to 5 lobes; purplish green above, with a purplish leaf stalk.
- Flowers
- In June, yellowish-white bell-shaped flowers 25 mm across open in terminal panicles (10 to 25 cm long), with yellow lines and purple spots inside.
- Fruit
- The capsule is long and linear, 20 to 36 cm long and 5 to 8 mm across, ripening dark brown in October. The flat seeds are 3 to 4 cm long with long white hairs at both ends.
Where it grows
- In Korea
- Planted (nationwide)
- Native to
- Native to China.
- Ecology
- Strongly cold-hardy and grows well in deep, fertile, especially moist places, and tolerates pollution and sea wind.