Saturday, May 9, 2009

Catalpa Blooms

Catalpa tree has been blooming these past two weeks. Catalpa is an ornamental tree that provides good shade since they have large heart shape leaves. The wood itself is quite soft. The flowers are showy, almost look like orchids. Its seed-pod is like a bean. The name Catalpa is derived from Catawba, an Native American's nation that once resided between North and South Carolina. The botanist whom first gave its formal scientific description had transcription error, thus the name Catalpa.

The tree is the food plant of the Catalpa Sphinx moth (Ceratomia catalpae), the leaves being eaten by the caterpillars which are an excellent live bait for fishing. Catfish loves it! In the southern United States, some dedicated anglers plant catalpa mini-orchards for their source of "catawba-worms".





Source of info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalpa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catawba_(tribe)

No comments:

Post a Comment