This showy tree earned its name from the original term for indigenous peoples by European explorers to North America, and does not originate from India. Also known as Southern Catalpa. Introduced 1726.

Native to east Texas and south Georgia in the USA. Parks and large gardens.

Monoecious, bearing hermaphrodite flowers in racemes, insect-pollinated. Flowers borne on untidy panicles. Fruit a long capsule, splitting open to release seeds with long hairs that aid wind dispersal. Quite short-lived (40–50 years).

Medium (18m), often as wide as tall, usually leaning with twisted branches. Bark distinctively colourful, pink-brown to orange. Twigs grey-brown; buds tiny (2mm), orange, often in threes, the shoot tip shrivelled-looking from lacking a terminal bud and often autumn-frost-damaged. Leaves very large (30cm), broad-ovate, light green and soon glabrous above, hairy below, abruptly pointed, heart-shaped at the base, pungent when crushed. Flowers white with yellow, purple-spotted centres, bell-shaped with frilled petals (3-4cm), in candle-like panicles, lightly scented, July-August. Fruit a thin bean-pod (to 40cm), hanging through winter before splitting. Foxglove-tree differs: larger hairy leaves without an abrupt tip, fragrant purple flowers. Western Catalpa differs: taller, odourless leaves, larger less-spotted flowers, broader pods.

Hardy to -15°C but very sensitive to spring frosts, so avoid cold sites and hollows. Prefers full sun and well-drained soils. Can be pruned hard when dormant.

Flowers attract pollinating insects.

Susceptible to verticillium wilt and honey fungus.

Ornamental.