Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Princess Tree (Paulownia tomentosa)

This is on the Bellona/Charles/Rolandvue circle, somewhat outside the usual range but an ID puzzle.  After a little research I think this is a young fast growing Princess tree, with the large opposite leaves typical of the early stage.  It will become a fast growing tree.  Each tree can shed millions of seeds making it a non-native invasive.

The tree was introduced and spread from asia by the East India Company.  It has attractive flowers in the spring, comparable to foxglove. Its fast growth is a plus but makes it susceptible to storm damage. The general advice seems to be to cut it down before producing seeds.

There may be a larger specimen off of Rolandvue to the north near the entrance to Cloverlea.  This is ID at a distance however.  It is a large "weed", will wait for fruiting to start.
There is another grove of the same large weed on the west wide of Mays Chapel near the golf course.  Is this a reason to call a nature 911?

Update.  Somebody did not like this plant, ? Princess Tree, both on Bellona have been cut down so no chance to observe the progression, flowers or fruit.  Will check the Mays Chapel group. The fruit/nut photo is from NPS.gov since no fruit seen here as yet.

September update.  One hundred feed further up Bellona is an older tree starting to bear seed capsules( 4th photo).  These are typical of the Princess tree, will flower in the spring.  The leaves will drop without changing color. The fine hairs that lead to the tomentosa name are visible on the capsules.  So aside from checking texture and smell, have to check the surroundings.  There can be older seed pods on the ground from previous seasons, not noted as yet. So this small tree was lost before any fruit, but pretty much identified by its neighbor. According to the notes, this tree will be back, re-grows from the cut stump.


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