catalpa Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun tree of the genus Catalpa with large leaves and white flowers followed by long slender pods
    Indian bean.

WordNet

Ca*tal"pa noun
Etymology
From the language of the Indians of Carolina, where Catesby discovered this tree in the year 1726.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) 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.

Webster 1913