Indian bean tree

There are two small trees in showy flower on the Jubilee Way run, one in the hedge just before the turning into Jubilee Way and the other in the verge in Hunters Road, snapped above from StreetView. Very flashy two or three days ago, a bit scorched by the sun now, but still striking

My close-up of the flowers didn't work but the zoomed snap above gives something of the idea of the delicate & distinctive florets, florets which reminded me of orchids.

As luck would have it, someone or something had knocked a small branch off, several large leaves but no flowers, which I was able to carry home for identification purposes.

The yellow squares of the kitchen table are a little less than a centimetre, which makes the leaf around 20cm wide and around 25cm long.

Bing fairly quickly turned up the Catalpa tree, common enough in warmer parts of the US, so this one is either the northern Catalpa tree or the southern Catalpa tree, named for the Catawbas. According to Wikipedia, there is a particular sort of moth which lays its eggs in the tree and the resultant caterpillars make excellent bait for fishermen - some of whom grow small orchards on which to raise them.

Notwithstanding, commonly called the Indian bean tree for its long beans. Not to be confused with the Indian rain tree of reference 3, from the other Indians.

PS 1: a Catawba family in South Carolina in 1908. A huntin' rather than a fishin' family to judge by the rifles.

PS 2: moving on, intrigued by a report in the FT that the Australian government is very cross that Unesco is thinking of putting the Great Barrier Reef on its most-wanted list. All a plot by the dastardly Chinese, who presently hold the chairmanship of the relevant committee.

Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalpa. Illustrated by a winter snap of a rather larger tree from Reading, the one on the way to Swindon.

Reference 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catawba_people.

Reference 3: https://psmv3.blogspot.com/2017/08/mystery-shrub-no-more.html.