Northern Catalpa, Cigar Tree

Description:

It has a trunk up to 1 m diameter, with brown to gray bark maturing into hard plates or ridges. The leaves are deciduous, opposite (or whorled), large, heart shaped, 20-30 cm long and 15-20 cm broad, pointed at the tip and softly hairy beneath. The flowers are 3-6 cm across, trumpet shaped, white with yellow stripes and purple spots inside; they grow in panicles of 10-30. The fruit is a long, thin legume-like pod, 20-40 cm long and 10-12 mm diameter; it often stays attached to tree during winter (and can be mistaken for brown icicles). The pod contains numerous flat, light brown seeds with two papery wings.

Habitat:

Northern catalpa has been extensively cultivated in Ohio for over 200 years, and is now naturalized in urban and rural areas. Farmers introduced the rapidly growing northern catalpa to Ohio to produce large amounts of timber for fenceposts.