Northern catalpa

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Northern catalpa fruit

Northern catalpa fruit

Northern catalpa inflorescence

Northern catalpa buds

Northern catalpa flowers

Northern catalpa bud and leaf scar

Northern catalpa buds and leaf scar

Northern catalpa twigs

Northern catalpa bark

Northern Catalpa flowers

Northern catalpa

Northern catalpa

Northern catalpa leaf

Morphology

Trunk

Short, tapering, often crooked; crown broad, rounded or pyramidal; branches slender, spreading, coarse; bark thick, reddish-brown, shallow furrows and plate-like scales on mature trees.

Twigs

Stout, rigid, smooth, reddish-brown; buds small, solitary, sessile, reddish-brown, slightly pubescent; scales about 6, loose, pointed; leaf scars whorled, large, nearly circular, raised, alternating 2 large and 1 small or 2 small and 1 large; bundle scars 12+ in ellipse.

Leaves

Opposite, simple, deciduous, egg-shaped to round, 6 to 12 inches long, 3.2 to 8 inches wide, thick; upper surface glabrous, bright green; lower surface paler, downy along veins; margins entire or slightly lobed; tip long-tapering to point; base heart-shaped or truncate; stalk stout, 3.2 to 4.5+ inches long, often pubescent. The leaves turn dark brown or black with the first hard frost and drop soon thereafter.

Flowers

About 1.8 inches long, occur in panicles after leaves fully grown; panicles showy, open, few-flowered, 5 to 8 inches long; calyx 2-lobed, 1/3 to 1/2 inch long, purplish; corolla bell-shaped, 1.8 to 2.8 inches long, 1.6 inch broad, 5-lobed, white with 2 yellow stripes on lower lobe, purplish spots in throat; 2 lobes above, 1 on each side, lowest lobe extended, shallowly notched; stamens 2; filaments white, bent upward; anthers yellow; style long, arched, white; stigma 2-lobed, flat.

Fruit

September; pod, slender, cylindrical, 8 to 18 inches long, 2/5 to 4/5 inch thick; seeds numerous, flat, 1.2 to 1.6 inch long, 1/6 to 1/3 inch wide, brown, winged on 2 sides, each wing terminating in tuft of hairs. The pods hang on the tree through the winter, shedding the seeds in winter or spring.

Ecology

Habitat

Stream banks, roadsides, lowland wooded areas, moist, disturbed sites; moist, well-drained soils.

Distribution

East 4/5 of Kansas

Practical Information

Uses

Widely planted in the 1930s and 1940s for fence posts and pole lumber and planted as an ornamental.

Additional Notes