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Catalpa bignonioides
Also called Indian Bean Tree, Indian Bean, Smoking Bean, Catawba, American Catalpa, Cigartree, Common Catalpa
A fast-growing, short-lived deciduous tree grown for its large heart-shaped leaves and showy white, yellow-spotted flowers. It needs full sun and moist soil and is widely planted as a street and garden tree.
Catalpa bignonioides is a short-lived species of Catalpa that is native to the southeastern United States in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Mississippi. Common names include southern catalpa, cigartree, and Indian bean tree It is commonly used as a garden and street tree.
It is a fast-growing tree and widely grown as an ornamental tree. The catalpa has the distinction of bearing some of the showiest flowers of all the American native trees. Its value in this respect has long been recognized and it holds an assured place in the parks and gardens of all temperate countries. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit, as has the gold-leafed cultivar C. bignonioides 'Aurea'. The purple-leaved hybrid Catalpa × erubescens 'Purpurea' syn. C. bignonioides 'Purpurea', has also achieved the award (confirmed 2017).
It prefers moist soil and full sun. It is easily raised from seeds which germinate early in the first season. It also multiplies readily from cuttings. The tree is fairly free from fungal diseases and has few insect enemies.
In the USA, Catalpa bignonioides is undoubtedly a Southern tree. Europeans first observed the tree growing in the fields of the Cherokee Native American tribes. However, it can flourish in the North as well, and accordingly its original range is somewhat in doubt.
Manchurian Catalpa · Hybrid Catalpa · Chinese catalpa · Northern catalpa · Catalpas
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Catalpa bignonioides by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
