2015 tree following 7: The pods grow plump

Fallen branch of empress tree in Bute Park, Cardiff, August 6, 2015

August is usually a rough time for the trees here. The summer weather dries them out and diseases take their toll. But this year we have had a very wet July and I was pleased to see that the empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa) I am following in Bute Park, Cardiff, still looked lush and green when I visited on August 6.

I’m following it every month as part of Lucy Corrander’s tree-following project.

Approaching the empress tree

Lots of pods up there

Pods and lush green leaves

Some twigs had been ripped off by wind

Pod on the ground

I was able to have a closer look at the pods on fallen twigs, but when I went to pick one up the surface felt sticky, like honeydew. So I left it for now. But at some stage I would like to cut one open.

The colour and texture reminds me a bit of broad beans…

Broad bean (Vicia faba), also known as fava bean – click on the image to go to the source on Wikimedia Commons

I imagined the ripe Paulownia pod to be full of lint or kapok or at least the white padding you see in broad beans, but I have now looked online at pictures of mature, dry pods and there’s no padding. The seeds are tiny and winged – and many – crammed inside the pod/capsule. We shall see for ourselves later in the year.

I also thought the pods reminded me of the original movie of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), where aliens create emotionless duplicates of people, growing them in pods. But now I look at stills from the film I can see the pods were nothing like broad beans!

Kevin McCarthy prods a pod in Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956 version)

I am still fascinated by the fact that there were empty, dry pods/capsules on the Paulownia when I first saw it, in January…

Empty Paulownia pods in January 2015

So I have already seen the future of this amazing tree with its year-round interest.

Paulownia tomentosa is considered an invasive pest in America, as its seeds are so numerous and spread widely, but they don’t seem to have spread around this tree in Bute Park. However, on this latest visit I was surprised to see this nearby…

Another little Paulownia…

At first I thought it was a seedling, but on closer inspection it seems to be a cut-off branch that is sprouting. And it must have been there a while, by the state of the cut surface.

Sprouting piece of Paulownia

I wonder if it is a small part of the huge bough that was cut off to form the empress tree’s “belly-button”…

The empress’s navel – and what a slim waist she has

I found online a picture of the tree before the branch was cut off…

The Bute Park empress tree – also called the foxglove tree – with lowest branch still intact. The picture, taken one spring, is by Owen Johnson on the Monumental Trees website – click on the image to go to the source

Paulownia tomentosa is known to be tenacious. According to Wikipedia it can survive wildfire because the roots can regenerate new, very fast-growing stems. Which is what I seem to have seen here. Those big green leaves are apparently rich in nitrogen and make good fodder for livestock.

I can still also see the fallen branches I noticed when I first saw the empress tree. They are still hanging on in there, stuck on other branches.

Small fallen branch hanging on the bough in the middle of this picture

More green leaves

Looking up

The trunk

The woodpecker nest hole is still there…

…but it looks less perfectly round and fresh now

Are these attempts at more nest holes higher up?

I also noticed the tomentosa‘s toes for the first time…

Base of the trunk

The empress goes barefoot in the grass

A last look at the green leaves

I wonder what autumn will bring?

The Loose & Leafy tree-following project in August is here.

My Paulownia posts are here.

My 2014 hornbeam following is here.

All my tree posts are here.