catalpa
/kəˈtælpə/ noun
Forms catalpas
- noun Any tree of the genus Catalpa, in the family Bignoniaceae. The two North American species, the southern catalpa, Catalpa bignonioides, and the northern catalpa, Catalpa speciosa — along with the yellow catalpa, Catalpa ovata, from China — are often planted as ornamentals because of their showy flowers and decorative bean pods, though others regard the bean pods as a nuisance.
Synonyms
Etymology
* A variant of catawba that originated when Giovanni Antonio Scopoli, the describing botanist, incorrectly transcribed the name.
* Sometimes alternatively said to derive from Creek kvtvrpv.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A genus of American and East Indian trees, of which the best know species are the Catalpa bignonioides, a large, ornamental North American tree, with spotted white flowers and long cylindrical pods, and the C. speciosa, of the Mississipi valley; --called also Indian bean.
Etymology [From the language of the Indians of Carolina, where Catesby discovered this tree in the year 1726.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “catalpa”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details