Catalpa speciosa, Catalpa, Northern Catalpa.

Catalpa speciosa, Catalpa, Bignoniaceae, Bignonia family. One of America's most beautiful native trees, indigenous to the mid-Mississippi drainage, planted and naturalized elsewhere. Bark once used for antiseptic, mild sedative and worm expellent properties, among other uses. Smelling or handling the flowers may cause an allergic reaction in some individuals. Leaf bases, like the flowers, have nectar glands. "Catalpa worms," the larvae of the catalpa sphinx, a hawk moth (Ceratomia catalpa), is a favorite fishing bait in the South. Very difficult to tell Catalpa speciosa apart from Catalpa bignonioides, which generally has foul-smelling leaves and is without a notch in the bottom lobe of the flower petal. Seed pods distinctive.

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