Foxglove-like white flowers spotted purple appear in July on a broad tree with heart-shaped leaves as big as a dinner plate
Indian bean tree.
Nature · Trees
Indian bean tree
Neophyte (introduced 1720s) · deciduous to 15 m · parks, squares and gardens
Catalpa bignonioides — Bignoniaceae
A spreading, late-leafing tree from the south-eastern United States, brought to England in the 1720s and long a fixture of old town squares and country-house lawns. Its huge heart-shaped leaves, foxglove-like summer flowers and long hanging bean pods make it easy to recognise. It is not invasive.
How to know it
How to spot them
- ▸Huge, pale green, heart-shaped leaves up to about 25 cm, often in whorls of three, smelling unpleasant when crushed
- ▸Late to come into leaf and among the first to drop
- ▸Upright panicles of white flowers, 3 to 4 cm across, spotted purple and marked yellow-orange inside, in July
- ▸Long, slender, hanging bean-like pods, up to about 40 cm, that stay on through winter
- ▸Broad, irregular crown on a short trunk
- ▸Look-alike: foxglove tree (Paulownia) has felted, opposite leaves and mauve flowers on bare wood in spring, with velvety bud clusters in winter.
How to know it
Long, thin pods like runner beans hang from its branches all winter, sometimes 40 cm long
Indian bean tree.
Brought from Carolina to England in 1726 by an artist-naturalist who described it in his Natural History of Carolina
Indian bean tree. Mark Catesby.
One of the last trees to come into leaf in spring, its big leaves may be shredded by wind
Indian bean tree.
Its common name refers to Native Americans, not to the Indian subcontinent, and its genus name is thought to derive from a Catawba word
Indian bean tree.
Verticillium wilt may affect this broad-crowned bean-bearing street and park tree
Indian bean tree (RHS).
Quick-fire facts
- •Catalpa bignonioides — Catalpa is from a Native American (Catawba) name; the family Bignoniaceae is that of trumpet vines and jacarandas
- •Native to the south-eastern USA; also called southern catalpa and cigar tree
- •Introduced to England in the 1720s after Mark Catesby returned from Carolina in 1726; the exact date varies by source
- •RHS: flowers 3 to 4 cm across, white and marked with orange and purple, in conical panicles; leaves to 25 cm
- •Fruit is a slender bean-like pod which persists through winter
- •RHS: generally pest-free; may be susceptible to Verticillium wilt and, rarely, honey fungus
- •Cultivars include golden 'Aurea' and dwarf 'Nana'
- •Not invasive in Britain
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