The Empress Tree ( Paulownia tomentosa ) , also known as the Princess Tree , Royal Paulownia , or Foxglove Tree , is a deciduous hardwood tree aboriginal to central and westerly China . The tree produce large , showy blossom before its leafage in the spring , which are light lilac - purple in color and resemble foxglove . This Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree rise rapidly with the potential to grow up to 20 feet in its first twelvemonth and reach maturity in just ten class .
historic records indicate the Empress Tree ’s mien in China as early as the 2nd-3rd century BC . In Japan , a tradition go forth around 18 century where house would plant an Empress Tree upon the birth of a daughter . The Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree would then be glean for wood when the girl came of eld to be wed .
The 18th hundred mark the Empress Tree ’s comer in Europe . Carl Peter Thunberg , a pupil of Carl Linnaeus , encounter the tree in Japan during his travels with the Dutch East India Company in the mid-1770s . The tree was afterward named Paulownia by Philip Franz Siebold , another German botanist working for the Dutch East India Company , in honour of Princess Anna Pavlovna of Russia .
The Empress Tree has also made its mark in lit , with the wood being used to make the Paulownia Seal , a symbol of the Japanese Imperial Family . The tree ’s cultural meaning is further highlighted in the Tale of Genji , a centrepiece of Heian literature .
In the nineteenth century , the Empress Tree was introduced to the West , first go far in the United States . This first growing tree with its seeds that disperse readily was previously assort as invasive exotic metal money in North America , but recent data point has called that into question as it is unmanageable to make plants from seed when attempted under observation where it has undergone naturalization in large area of the Eastern US . This tree has also been introduced to Western and Central Europe , and is constitute itself as a naturalize species there as well .
Throughout story , the Empress Tree has also been used for a assortment of purposes . Its woodwind is used to make oxford gray for sketching and gunpowder for firework , while the barque is used to make a dye . The leaves have even been used in vermicide preparations .
Characteristics of Empress Tree (Paulownia tomentosa)
Growth wont : The Empress Tree has a tight - grow wont , often adding 15 feet each year to reach a matured height of 50 invertebrate foot and width of 30 feet in just 10 yr .
leaf : The Empress Tree has large , eye - form parting that can produce up to 12 column inch wide . The leaves are drab green and glossy on top and velvety gentle underneath , hence the mintage name “ tomentosa ” which means hairy in Latin .
flower : The Empress Tree make beautiful , fragrant flower in early bound , even before the leaves emerge . The flush are violet - purple , foxglove - molded , and borne in big clump telephone panicle . The flower have a sweet vanilla scent .
fruit : The Empress Tree produces brown , capsule - like fruit that split open to discharge thousands of lilliputian wing seeds . These seeded player can disperse long distance in the wind , potentially causing the tree to become encroaching in some areas .
Other machine characteristic
