After much wandering in Cardiff’s Bute Park Arboretum (see my last post), I’ve decided on my tree to follow for 2015 as part of Lucy Corrander’s Loose and Leafy project.
It’s one I hadn’t seen before. It’s not a native tree, and the crown is very high so I may need to do a lot of zooming in with my camera, but it is a champion among trees, or so it says on the label kindly put there by the arboretum people…
You will see the label says it’s a Paulownia tomentosa or foxglove tree. I was intrigued by the common name but found on Wikipedia that it refers to the lovely purple blooms in spring, which are the shape of foxglove flowers. They come out before the leaves. That’s something to look forward to.
The tree comes from China and is sometimes called the empress tree, princess tree or blue dragon tree. I think I am going to call it the empress tree for now, as this example is pretty grand.
The first of these trees was brought to Europe in the 1830s by the Dutch East India Company and named Paulownia in honour of the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia (1795-1865), who was a grand-daughter of Catherine the Great and married William II of the Netherlands. The spelling of “Pavlovna” in Dutch is “Paulowna”, hence the unusual Latin name of the tree.
Anna seems to have been a bit haughty and believed she had married below her station in life, continuing to act like a Grand Duchess of Russia rather than a Queen of the Netherlands. She preferred to keep her distance from the public but did learn the language and do some good works. She founded a school where poor women and girls could learn sewing and after the Belgian revolution, when that part of the Netherlands broke away to become a separate country, she opened a hospital for injured soldiers. She also founded 50 orphanages.
The plant was named by botanist Philipp Franz von Siebold, a German doctor and botanist who spent a lot of time in Japan and whose daughter Kusumoto Ine, born in 1827, was the first female doctor of western medicine in Japan. There must be a book and a movie in that story! Maybe I’ve missed it.
The other half of the binomial name, tomentosa, means “hairy”, as the big oval or heart-shaped leaves I can expect to see emerging after the flowers are hairy on both sides. Another thing I can look forward to!
This particular empress tree was planted around 1950, making it about 65 years old. So not that huge, considering it is said by some to be the “fastest growing tree in the world”. The species doesn’t like being overshadowed, but that shouldn’t be a problem here.
You can tell it is quite old by the lovely moss and lichen on the trunk…
There are a couple of aspects to the tree’s rapid growth. One is that in some countries, such as Japan and the eastern United States, it is considered to be an invasive species. In the 19th century the soft, light seeds were often used as packaging material around porcelain exported from China. The seeds sometimes leaked out or the packing cases burst and many seeds were scattered on railway lines to proliferate and become a pest.
A more positive aspect of the tree’s quick growth is to be found in its native China. Traditionally an empress tree was planted when a baby girl was born. By the time she was old enough to marry the tree would be big enough to cut down and carve into items for her dowry. The wood is also made into stringed instruments such as the Japanese koto and Korean gayageum zithers.
According to Chinese legends, the empress tree is the only one on which a phoenix will land, and only if a good ruler is in power.
Follow many more trees with Loose and Leafy here.
That is a very fast growing tree! Looking forward to seeing the flowers.
Did you know there’s a baby Foxglove Tree in our Tree Following list? Stephanie found a bush-sized tree with oversized leaves and took it on as a ‘Mystery Tree’ – after a while identifying it as a Paulownia tomentosa.
She’s moved blog sites and I can’t see a search button on her new one – but this is the link for her old one. Going down the page you find what it looked like when she first came across it.
http://139a.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Tree%20Following
If Stephanie shows more of her tree it will be fascinating to see what it’s like at VERY different stages in its growth.
Empress Tree suits yours well.
Thanks for all that – I have been over to look at Stephanie’s Paulownia – the leaves are certainly huge. On the small tree they look like a vegetable, maybe like a cucumber or pumpkin plant.
I hate that there are some tree following posts I have missed but I am still trying to catch up with last year!
Paulownia wouldn’t have rung a bell with me then, of course. A bit like when you have a new car you suddenly see loads of others of the same model.
All the best!
Dear Anna was a worthwhile contributor to many humanitarian deeds in her new social setting. Interesting piece of history you shared. Thanks.
Thanks.
Sorry that it’s all Wikipedia, not my own research!
All the best 🙂
http://www.lifeat139a.com/139a?tag=Garden
her new blog
Thanks for that. I will try to remember to check on it every so often, as it looks my sort of blog but I don’t think I can see how to “follow” it by having email updates?
All the best 🙂
This sounds such an interesting tree and I am very curious even without having seen it in leaf. the flowers must be lovely. I shall be following its progress through the year too and wonder if you will see a phoenix in it! 😉
As we are in Wales, I am probably more likely to see a dragon!
Thanks for the kind comments.
I will enjoy following your field maple, too 🙂
As we are in Wales, I am probably more likely to see a dragon!
Thanks for the kind comments.
I will enjoy following your field maple, too 🙂
How exciting Pat! Great history. Look forward to seeing how the empress progresses.
Me, too.
Although I fear I have given away too much about the tree’s story in the first episode!
Thanks for the kind comments.
All the best 🙂
More tree history. I love it! I’m also quite taken with the mosses and lichens. Looking forward to seeing and hearing more about this tree over the next months!
Thank you for your kind comments. I see from your blog that you are also quite taken by bark!
I will look forward to seeing more of your Shumard oak – and I am now signed up to follow your blog, too.
All the best 🙂
Yes, bark is nice! Thanks for following; I’m also following you! I love the diversity of your photos.
I love the idea of the tree being planted when a baby is born…if only that were a more general practice!
Not sure about one individual being linked with one tree, though. You would always be looking at whether the tree is healthy and hoping that even if the tree doesn’t thrive, the child does…
Maybe the general idea of sponsoring an unidentified tree in woodland somewhere as a gift to a baby, but not a tree you could ever visit?
All the best 🙂
Wow, Pat, you have chosen a fascinating tree. Thank you for visiting my blog … and, by the way, I lived in Swansea for 20 years! Oh, and your seedpods reveal that I’ve actually seen a Foxglove Tree at London Zoo!
Thanks for the kind comment.
I think you will know Swansea better than I do, then. For some reason we always bypass Swansea and go farther west for holidays and day trips, but I am trying to persuade the husband to explore around Mumbles and Gower one day soon.
All the best 🙂
Thanks for the kind comment.
I think you will know Swansea better than I do, then. For some reason we always bypass Swansea and go farther west for holidays and day trips, but I am trying to persuade the husband to explore around Mumbles and Gower one day soon.
All the best 🙂
a right royal tree you’ve chosen Pat though I shall miss our Hornbeams look forward to following the progression of this one
Yes, both those hornbeams are great trees, aren’t they?
I will follow your lindens with interest.
Best wishes 🙂
Amusing that someone who became a Queen could think she’d married beneath her station! Will look forward to seeing the tree come into majestic beauty during the year.
What a great tree you have chosen for the Tree Following. I like the common name and look forward to seeing what the flowers look like. Such an interesting history too – fascinating stuff.
Thank you Elaine – I look forward to following your home and garden during the year, too. I especially admire your posies!
All the best 🙂
Thank you Elaine – I look forward to following your home and garden during the year, too. I especially admire your posies!
All the best 🙂