Paulownia 
Imperialis 
48 ARBORETUM NOTES. 
SCROPHUBARINA:. 
PAULOWNIA IMPERIALIS. 
Hooker, Botanical Mag. t. 4666. 
Two young trees planted in the farthest part of - 
the kitchen garden (near the wall facing south, and 
near the Cornus Mascula) in 1874 (or ’75?). They 
looked very healthy this autumn (1878), had made 
very vigorous shoots, and were covered with superb 
leaves; but they have not yet been tried by any 
severe winter. It is to be feared that even if the 
tree itself is not killed, its young shoots (which are 
very tender and succulent), may be cut off by the 
spring frosts, and thus it may not flower. 
This (according to Sir W. Hooker, in Botanical 
Magazine), 1s what has happened to it in the 
neighbourhood of London. 
Even at Paris this tree thrives and flowers well. 
When I was there in May, 1857, I saw several good 
sized trees of it in the open ground in the Fardin 
des Plantes, in full blossom and very handsome. In 
Italy, at Florence (where the winters are pretty 
severe ), I saw it in 1866, thriving exceedingly, and 
already grown to a large size; bearing abundance 
of large brown capsules, which gave it a rather 
remarkable appearance. 
In its general appearance, its ramification and 
foliage, the Paulownia ts strikingly like the Catalpa, 
though the leaves are of a darker and duller green, 
and a less delicate appearance. In the inflor- 
escence also there is a general resemblance, the 
