| Login Register (Free!) |
| |
|
||
|
|
|||
Member Pages |
The southern catalpa is an attractive small to medium sized deciduous tree that grows to about 25-50 ft (7.6-1.2 m) in height. It is of similar width with a short trunk that supports a broad, open and rounded crown. Catalpa has large tropical looking heart-shaped leaves that are up to 8 in (20.3 cm) long and held oppositely on the stems (often in a whorl with three leaves emerging from the same point along the stem). In spring the southern catalpa produces showy 6-10 in (cm) branching flower clusters (panicles) at the stem tips. The white bell-shaped blossoms are 2 in (5.1 cm) in diameter and patterned with small purple spots and two large orange markings at the throat. The flowers are followed by long slender cigar-shaped pods up to 16 in ( cm) in lengh. The green pods ripen to brown in fall and split to release flat fringed seeds.
Location Culture
Spectacular spring flowers and beautiful bright green foliage make the catalpa one of the South's most distinctive and best loved native trees. Used as an ornamental, accent, specimen (especially 'Aurea'), or shade tree. It is a valued ornamental tree with large foliage and showy clusters of flowers in the spring. When grown as a specimen many gardeners drastically cut back the large branches of their catalpas each winter. This radical surgery is called pollarding and the result is a tree with a thick trunk, very compact crown and very large beautiful foliage. Catalpa also has some limited use in the forest products trade for fence posts, rails and crates.
This tree has been widely planted and naturalized outside its native range because it is the host plant for a caterpillar commonly called the catawba worm. These are a popular fishing bait for southern freshwater fish known as bream. All across the American Deep South the catalpa tree is seen, often stripped bare of it's leaves by hungry caterpillars. This means only one thing - it's time to go fishing! The foliage is quickly replaced in a few weeks and the cycle can be repeated several times in a season. Jack Scheper 3/07/98; updated 6/26/04, 1/20/07
|
 Latest Entries:
Recent Plant Profiles:
New! Local Guides
Local Guides
Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut DC Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennesee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming |
||||||||||||||||||||||
Get link
