Southern Catalpa, Eastern Catalpa                ka-TAL-pa big-no-ni-OY-dez

• Broadleaf deciduous tree, 30-40 ft (9-12 m), irregular, short crooked branches, coarse.  Leaves whorled or opposite, simple, large, 10-20 cm x 7.5-20 cm, ovate to ovate-oblong, apex abruptly acuminate, base truncate to subcordate, margin entire, nearly glabrous above, slightly pubescent below, especially on the veins.  Flowers in large, upright terminal panicles, 20-25 cm long, blooms later than C. speciosa, flowers white tube-shaped, each with 2 ridges and 2 rows of yellow spots and numerous purple-brown spots.  Fruit is a long, narrow green, finally brown, pod, to 35 cm or more long and about 0.7 cm wide, thin-walled, persist in winter and spring, contains numerous oblong, winged seeds.
• Sun and partial shade.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 5     Native to Georgia, Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi.
• This species is smaller but similar to C. speciosa and several authors list the following as means to separate the two:
  C. bignonioides relative to C. speciosa
  • flowers later (about 2 weeks)
  • more flowers per cluster
  • leaves abruptly acuminate
  • leaves give an unpleasant odor when crushed (C. speciosa scentless)
  • fruit width less than 1 cm and fruit wall thinner
  • trunk bark thin (not thick and ridged)
• bignonioides: like (-oides) Bignonia.  It was once classified with the trumpet vine, formally Bignonia radicans and now Campsis radicans.
• Silverton, Oregon: The Oregon Garden,
• Portland, Oregon: Hoyt Arboretum