Tennessee Native Plant Society
Native Plant of the Month
December, 2007
Catalpa Tree
Catalpa speciosa
A tree of low woods and stream banks, Catalpa is one of our most beautiful native trees. The large,
heart-shaped leaves are distinctive as are the pyramidal clusters of white flowers with orange and
purple spotting. Catalpa trees were once very popular landscape trees, but curiously, have fallen out of
favor in the recent past.
Many people are familiar with catalpa worms, a sought-after fish bait. These worms, which are the
larvae of a sphinx moth, feed on the leaves in mid-spring.
