Can anyone identify this tree growing in my backyard in Central Illinois?

[sinkingfeeling]

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]

1. No pictures?

[Quakerfriend]

2. Hard to tell without a picture but,

Could it be a Catalpa tree??

[Emile]

3. Central Illinois my guess is sycamore tree.

Google sycamore tree

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Not a sycamore. I have one of those.

[FSogol]

6. Sycamore have leaves similar to a maple, but much larger. n/t

[FSogol]

5. Either a chinese chesnut or hickory. Are there multiple leaves on the same stem? n/t

[Tetrachloride]

7. Not a shagbark hickory

[sinkingfeeling]

8. No, single large leaves and there are no nuts.

[FSogol]

13. I always assume rodents ate the nuts/seeds in from those pods. n/t

[usonian]

9. I have been using [e-mail]

https://identify.plantnet.org

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]

11. Looks like the Foxglove tree, but it doesn't appear to have any green pods on it this year.

[MontanaMama]

17. That's my vote too.

I posted a link below to a USDA info page and YouTube video.

[bamagal62]

10. Don't catalpas have

Long bean like things?

[murielm99]

12. Yes. We have several of them in our yard.

[LakeArenal]

14. Some kind of hazelnut?

[rsdsharp]

15. Howard.

His name is Howard.

[MontanaMama]

16. My vote is a Princess Tree...a species of Paulownia

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]

19. I didn't notice any flowers but I was out of the country from late April through most of May.

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]

18. I use the 'Seek' app to ID plants and trees

It's free.

[WhiteTara]

20. Can we see the tree?

[sinkingfeeling]

22. Here it is....

[slightlv]

21. I vote with those saying Catalpa.

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]

23. I think they have long pods.

[WhiteTara]

24. If the seed you showed came from this tree

it is not Catalpa as they have beautiful flowers and long pods that have seeds that you can shake like a rattle.

[slightlv]

25. They do indeed have long pods. Mine did...

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)