Tree Leaf Heart Shaped? 8 Trees That Match and How to Tell

A tree with heart-shaped leaves is most often an eastern redbud, an American basswood (linden) or a catalpa, and one look at the twig tells you which group you are in. Catalpa, princess tree and katsura carry their leaves opposite or in whorls; redbud, basswood, cottonwood, mulberry and aspen carry them alternate, one per node.

Then look at the edge. A perfectly smooth edge on an alternate leaf points to redbud; a finely toothed edge with a lopsided base points to basswood. On the opposite side of the key, a huge soft leaf with a smooth edge is catalpa or princess tree, and a small leaf with blunt teeth is katsura. The two sections below give the measurements.

Measurements are from the Virginia Tech dendrology fact sheets unless another source is named.

• Eastern redbud (Cercis canadensis) - alternate, cordate, 3 to 5 inches long and wide, smooth edge, thin and papery, the leaf stalk visibly swollen at both ends. Pink to light purple pea-like flowers appear in early spring before the leaves, even along older stems; flat brown pods 2 to 4 inches long follow. A large shrub or small tree up to 30 feet.
• American basswood / linden (Tilia americana) - alternate, ovate to cordate, 5 to 6 inches, serrate, with an unequal heart-shaped base. Pale yellow flowers hang below a long curving leafy wing in early to mid summer. Basswood wood.
• Northern catalpa (Catalpa speciosa) - whorled in threes or opposite, cordate, 5 to 12 inches, smooth edge, soft and flexible with fine hairs underneath. White bell-shaped flowers with yellow and purple spots in late spring, then stiff bean-like capsules 10 to 18 inches long that may hang on all winter.
• Royal paulownia / princess tree (Paulownia tomentosa) - opposite, heart-shaped, 5 to 12 inches, velvety; young trees often have coarsely toothed or lobed leaves. Purple, very fragrant tube-shaped flowers in mid-spring; oval capsules 1 to 1.5 inches holding thousands of small seeds.
• Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) - opposite or partly alternate, heart-shaped with blunt teeth, 2 to 3.5 inches, purple when emerging. The treeidentifier.app guide notes that fallen katsura leaves smell like burnt caramel or brown sugar.
• Eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) - alternate, triangular (deltoid), 3 to 6 inches, with a flattened leaf stalk and glands at its top; cottony seeds in summer. Cottonwood wood.
• Red mulberry (Morus rubra) - alternate, broadly ovate to nearly round, 3 to 5 inches, serrate, rough like sandpaper on top and fuzzy below; the same tree can carry unlobed and deeply lobed leaves.
• Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) - small rounded leaves 1 to 3 inches wide on a flattened stalk that makes them flutter, per treeidentifier.app. Aspen wood.

Both carry huge heart-shaped leaves in opposite pairs, and Virginia Tech lists each as a look-alike of the other. Four checks separate them:

• Pods - catalpa hangs long, thin, bean-like capsules 10 to 18 inches (northern) or 8 to 14 inches (southern); princess tree carries clusters of oval capsules only 1 to 1.5 inches long.
• Flowers - catalpa flowers are white with yellow and purple spots in late spring; princess tree flowers are purple and open in mid-spring.
• Leaf texture - princess tree leaves are velvety; catalpa leaves are soft with fine hairs underneath and often come in threes.
• Twig - cut a second-year princess tree twig and the pith is hollow.

The difference matters. The National Invasive Species Information Center lists princess tree as an invasive plant from China, introduced in the 1840s as an ornamental, that grows and seeds rapidly and displaces native species in disturbed areas. Catalpas are native to North America.

Not rare as trees you will meet, but their wild home is small. The Morton Arboretum gives the native range of northern catalpa as the lower Midwest into the southern states, from southern Illinois south to Arkansas, and the Missouri Department of Conservation lists eastern Texas to Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and southeastern Missouri. Virginia Tech notes the range may be expanded by planting, which is why catalpas now line streets far outside that band.

To tell the two native catalpas apart, the Missouri Department of Conservation says northern catalpa has the larger flowers (1.5 to 2 inches), thicker-walled pods and reddish-brown bark in thick scaly plates. It also notes that catalpa sphinx caterpillars can nearly strip a tree in some years, and that anglers collect them as bait.

If the plant is on a windowsill rather than in a yard, the likely answer is heartleaf philodendron (Philodendron hederaceum var. oxycardium), a vining houseplant with dark green heart-shaped leaves generally 2 to 4 inches, according to the University of Florida IFAS. The same source warns that philodendrons are toxic to pets, causing oral pain, drooling, vomiting and swelling of the mouth and upper airway, and that the sap can give people an itchy rash. If a pet chews one, call your veterinarian or an animal poison control line; if a person has a reaction, see a doctor.

Eastern redbud can also look like a shrub rather than a tree, since Virginia Tech describes it as a large shrub or small tree up to 30 feet.

Photograph one whole leaf with its stalk, the twig so the arrangement shows, and any flower or pod. The stalk alone often decides it: swollen at both ends on redbud, flattened on cottonwood and aspen. WoodLens returns a species with a confidence level and lists the next candidates when two of these trees look alike; if the answer is catalpa or princess tree, check the pods before you decide whether to keep or remove the tree. The general method is on our identify tree by leaf page.