Gardening
Related: About this forumCan anyone identify this tree growing in my backyard in Central Illinois?
The leaves arearge and velvety. This one is 7 1/2 inches by 6 inches wide. It's full of these empty hulls. They are fairly thin but not papery. Tree is somewhere between 20 andv25 feet tall.
Thanks.

Emile
(34,013 posts)Quakerfriend
(5,803 posts)Could it be a Catalpa tree??
Emile
(34,013 posts)Google sycamore tree
sinkingfeeling
(54,992 posts)FSogol
(47,273 posts)FSogol
(47,273 posts)Tetrachloride
(8,649 posts)sinkingfeeling
(54,992 posts)FSogol
(47,273 posts)usonian
(17,027 posts)With very limited data, it came up with these top two. (there are more)

And the seeds are very interesting.
Got it?

Catalpa?
Try it yourself with more data.

sinkingfeeling
(54,992 posts)MontanaMama
(24,363 posts)I posted a link below to a USDA info page and YouTube video.
bamagal62
(3,864 posts)Long bean like things?
murielm99
(31,827 posts)LakeArenal
(29,941 posts)
rsdsharp
(10,651 posts)His name is Howard.
MontanaMama
(24,363 posts)in the Foxglove Tree family. It can also be known as Royal Paulownia, Empress tree , Kiri tree or Imperials tree. It is an invasive species apparently. It came to the US in the 1800’s as an ornamental. Does yours have a lilac colored bloom in the spring?
https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/princess-tree
sinkingfeeling
(54,992 posts)I've only lived here a few months, so will have to see if it blooms next year. I think it is a Foxglove or Princess tree. A younger one based on leaf size.
Thanks.
The Blue Flower
(5,789 posts)It's free.
WhiteTara
(30,688 posts)sinkingfeeling
(54,992 posts)
slightlv
(5,319 posts)Had one of those that free grew in my front yard. Had someone who knew horticulture tell me it was a catalpa. Looked just this! If you get up one day and find all the leaves gone, it was a catalpa with catalpa bugs. They cleaned my entire tree in a single night.
sinkingfeeling
(54,992 posts)WhiteTara
(30,688 posts)it is not Catalpa as they have beautiful flowers and long pods that have seeds that you can shake like a rattle.
slightlv
(5,319 posts)and when the catalpa bugs hit the tree, even the pods were gone. I'd never seen a tree go bare so fast!! I would like to have one again at the house I'm in now. But they're aren't any free growing ones around here. We had a creek and "forest space" across the street from us in the old house. We got a LOT of different free-growing trees and plants as the winds blew the seeds into our yard. We don't have that here.
And believe me, if I went down and bought one to plant, it would die within a week or less. I have THAT much of a black thumb! (LOL)