12. Southern Catalpa

Specimen Size: 59.9ft tall, 28.5in in diameter.

Location: Northeast edge of the Sylvan Grove, just north of the LIFE columns.

Historical Background: This species is of a native range of somewhat uncertain extent, but it is now naturalized in many areas of North America. Catalpa is an indigenous name, and the tree has multiple medicinal properties, most of which were almost certainly first used by the native people of the eastern Gulf Coast and South (although information on indigenous uses is difficult to obtain due to the United States genocidal practices targeted at eliminating and removing the native people in the trees native range of the South). Seeds and pods have been used to treat bronchitis, and juice from leaves and roots was used to treat eye and lymph node inflammation. Tea of the bark has been used as a laxative, snake bite antidote, sedative, and antiseptic. The wood is also used for a variety of lumber purposes and the tree is popular as an ornamental shade tree.

Non-native

Native Range: Gulf Coast and Southern United States, southwest Georgia and northwest Florida to Alabama and Mississippi.

Identifying Features: This broad shade tree has a rounded open crown of spreading branches, holding up a foliage of broad heart shaped leaves of a very pleasant light green color. The tree produces showy white flower clusters with orange stripes and purple spots which give way to long dangling seed pods readily visible in late summer ripening from a purple-green to a brown. The trunk is brownish gray and scaly.  In autumn the leaves turn a blackish color and release an unpleasant odor when crushed.

Identifying Features In Depth:

1. Form: Broad spreading tree with a rounded crown. Grows to a height of about 50’ (15m) and a diameter of 2’ (0.6m).

2. Leaves: Leaves are cordate (heart-shaped) and very large, 5-10” (13-25cm) long. They grow in groups of 3 and have an abrupt long point. They are dull green on top with paler undersides covered with soft hairs. In autumn they turn blackish and release an unpleasant smell when crushed.

3. Bark:  Brownish-gray and scaly. Twigs are green when young and turn brown with age.

4. Reproductive Bodies: Flowers appear in branched clusters 10” (25cm) long in late spring. They are bell-shaped with 5 unequal fringed lobes. The petals are white with orange stripes and purple spots and stripes inside, moderately fragrant. These give rise to long hanging cylindrical pods 6-12” (15-30cm) in length. They are green-purple when unripe and ripen to brown, with thin walls and many flat two winged light brown seeds.