The Indian Bean Tree originates not from India, but America, and owes its name from the same mistake that Christopher Columbus made when he thought he had arrived in India when he had in fact discovered America, and when he called the tribes already living there, Indians. So really it ought to be called the Red Indian bean tree or the Native American bean tree depending on how politically correct you want to be. In fairness to Christopher Columbus, this tree is known in both Spain and Italy as the catalpa and so the mistake could not have originated from him. Its leaves vary from tree to tree but are usually heart shaped and are always enormous. It is the strange bean looking nuts which hang down as if they are falling like icicles which make it easy to identify.

The beans hang down, even in the winter