I saw this outside the shop at the National Trust’s Dyffryn Gardens and thought it was a Paulownia, but it wasn’t – read on to find out what it was…
At first sight the empress tree (Paulownia tomentosa) I am following in Cardiff’s Bute Park looked just the same as last month, so I let myself wander a bit.
Another tree nearby had been bugging me, as it also looked like a Paulownia and I really wanted my empress to be unique in this vicinity.
But first an October catch-up with the empress herself.
The empress tree on October 7
She still bears the scars of recent chainsaw activity…
…and this one I think I noticed last time
Much older scars
She is so sturdy I could hug her – but not reach right around!
The capsules are still green so it will be interesting to see in which month they dry out and whether it will be before or after the leaves fall.
If I am not mistaken, there also seem to be new flower buds forming – the ones that always make me think they are covered in cocoa powder…
Slightly out of focus – but there seem to be new buds as well as green capsules
Meanwhile this is the tree nearby that I had thought might be another Paulownia.
A sister tree?
The leaves are big and floppy, just like the empress’s
More leaves on the sister tree
On closer inspection the bark is much coarser than that of the Paulownia. And anyway there’s a label!
How did I not notice the label before?
As you can see, it’s a Catalpa x erubescens J C Teas or hybrid bean tree
The name Catalpa × erubescens covers hybrids grown from a cross between the American southern catalpa, C bignonioides, and the Chinese C ovata. The best-known hybrid was raised by J C Teas at Bayville, Indiana, USA around 1874. The unfolding leaves are apparently purplish, broad-ovate or slightly three-lobed, cordate, up to a foot long, downy underneath, but I haven’t noticed that.
In Britain it does not flower as well as C bignonioides but does have big leaves. It allegedly flowers in late July and August but I must have missed that this year as there is no sign of flower or pod. There is more about the hybrid on this link.
The word “catalpa” is from the native American Muscogee name kutuhlpa, meaning “winged head” and the alternative name of Indian bean tree is because of the long bean-shaped pods. I saw none on this tree in Bute Park.
But at last I find on Wikipedia that someone else has also noticed the similarity between the leaves of the Catalpa and Paulownia. It’s mentioned in the article on the hybrid’s mother tree, Catalpa ovata.
Catalpa ovata pods by Fanghong – click on the image for more information
Paulownia leaves and capsules pictured this week
Catalpa ovata flowers at sunset by Brandon Castellano – click on the image to go to the source
My empress tree’s flowers in June
So they are really very different trees. The closest they get to being relatives is that they are both in the “order” Lamiales, which links them through their flower shape.
It’s a huge group, but includes many plants you might think have similar flowers – lavender, lilac, jasmine, snapdragon, sage, mint, basil and rosemary. Also in the same order is the foxglove (Digitalis). And you may or may not remember that the empress tree is also commonly called the foxglove tree, so somewhere I think we may have come full circle.
Oh, and I almost forgot – the plant pictured at the top of the post was also labelled – and it’s a Catalpa.
See my other empress tree posts here.
See my 2014 hornbeam tree following here.
See Lucy Corrander’s other Loose and Leafy tree followers here.
Another fascinating tree and a thorough and well-researched investigation into its place in the world! i guess there is nothing to stop you picking up ripe nuts when they fall and having a go at growing your own trees?
I am definitely looking out for ripe capsules but they take a while to turn brown, it seems. And then they will be full of tiny seeds. I’m not sure my garden is big enough, even for a small one! And if I bonsai it I expect it will still have huge leaves and look a bit silly on a tiny tree…
Thanks for all your kind comments 🙂