catalpan.
/kəˈtalpə/, U.S. /kəˈtælpə/ Botany.
A genus of trees (family Bignoniaceæ), natives of North America, West Indies, Japan and China, having large simple leaves, and terminal panicles of trumpet-shaped flowers. Two species, known also as Indian Bean, and St. Domingo or French Oak, are cultivated in England. Also attributive.
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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > [noun] > catalpa
catalpa1731
French oak1789
roble1814
Shawnee wood1818
Indian bean1843
talpa1926
1731–48 M. Catesby Nat. Hist. Florida (1754) I. 49 The Catalpa Tree.
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xxii. 321 The Catalpa is a large tree with leaves remarkably simple, and heart-shaped.
1853 W. C. Bryant Poems (new ed.) 322 Before you the catalpa's blossoms flew.
1860 P. H. Gosse Romance Nat. Hist. 174 The large white blossoms of a catalpa tree..just under my window.
Derivatives
catalpic adj. in full catalpic acid: an acid derived from trees of the genus Catalpa.
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1885 Jrnl. Chem. Soc. 48 i. 272 The analyses of the acid and its barium and silver salts point to the formula C14H14O6.
catalpin n. a crystalline glucoside of similar origin.
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1888 Amer. Chem. Jrnl. 10 329 Catalpin forms radial aggregates of white acicular or silky, slender, and often curved crystals.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1889; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1731