This attractive bean tree is putting on a fine show of late spring flower on the Fairway.
Catalpa bungei is a native of China, where it grows in dry habitats from roadsides to forests at altitudes up to 2700m above sea level. It is one of eight deciduous woody species from Asia and North America, which have dome-shaped crowns; entire, usually heart-shaped leaves; and attractive tubular, two-lipped flowers. The genus belongs to the predominantly tropical family Bignoniaceae (trumpet vines), which comprises approximately 80 genera of trees, shrubs and climbers with terminal or axillary panicles or racemes of showy zygomorphic flowers i.e. with bilateral symmetry. C. bungei varies in size from only a few metres to over 30m in height. it bears racemes or corymbs of up to 15 two-lipped flowers, whose upper lip is two-lobed, and whose lower lip is three-lobed. Seeds are produced in slender bean-like capsules up to 30cm in length, though it is reluctant to set seed, and this is perhaps why it is less widely grown than other Catalpa species .