Re: Pawlonia tomentosa
- To: m*@ucdavis.edu
- Subject: Re: Pawlonia tomentosa
- From: N* T*
- Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 17:08:16 CST6CDT
- Priority: normal
Medit-planters,
I've been silent for a long time, mainly because I was on a field trip to
Hainan Island, China during November and December. Of course it wasn't
at all relevant to mediterranean climate plants (it's a tropical place), but it was
fascinating all the same. Right now I just wanted to comment on Paulownia
tomentosa...
This must be one of my favorite flowering trees -- they really are very
beautiful when in flower, with big panicles of large lilac bells set off by the
rusty-hairy sepals. They are also very sweetly scented, like sweet violets
(Viola odorata).
There are several mature trees in parks in St. Louis, MO (USDA zone 6a,
just inside from 5b). They are quite frost hardy but they do need summer
heat to ripen the wood. I think the seedlings are too delicate to get through
their first winter here, as I've never seen them self-sowing.
I've heard that the wood is valuable for making musical instruments as it has
excellent resonant qualities.
If you want any technical information, there is an account of the Chinese
species on the Flora of China website at: http://hua.huh.harvard.edu
/cgi-bin/Flora/flora.pl?FLORA_ID=11746&RANK_ID=125
Of course all that URL needs to go onto one line. Once you're in, just type
"Paulownia" into the search box.
Nick
Nick Turland
Flora of China Project, Missouri Botanical Garden,
P.O. Box 299, St. Louis, MO 63166-0299, U.S.A.
E-mail: Nicholas.Turland@mobot.org
Phone: +1 314 577 0269 Fax: +1 314 577 9438
MBG web: http://www.mobot.org
FOC web: http://flora.huh.harvard.edu/china/
