252 BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



" The striking peculiarity of the Paulownia, however, is its 

 showy foliage. The leaves are the shape of those of the Ca- 

 talpa, but of a darker green, perhaps resembling more closely 

 those of a large Sun-flower being broad and heart-shaped. 

 In rich soil the growth of the tree is extremely rapid young 

 plants making shoots of eight or ten feet in a season, and on 

 such we have measured leaves a foot and a half in diameter. 

 But on older trees they are usually about half that size. 



" The flowers are produced in April, in panicles, at the ends 

 of the branches. They resemble in general appearance those 

 of the Catalpa, but the color is a pale-bluish violet. The seeds 

 are borne in an oval capsule as large as a pigeon's egg. 



" When the Paulownia was first introduced into the Garden 

 of Plants, at Paris, it was treated as a delicate green-house 

 plant. It was soon found, however, that it was perfectly hardy 

 on the Continent and in England. In this country, it appears 

 equally so. The trees in this latitude have stood the past two 

 winters, even in exposed situations, without covering, and have 

 not lost an inch of the previous season's growth. We, there- 

 fore, consider it a hardier tree than the Catalpa, which often 

 suffers badly from the cold of this latitude. Nothing is easier 

 than the propagation of this tree. Single buds will grow, like 

 those of the Mulberry and the Vine, taken off early in the spring, 

 and covered about an inch deep in the soil of a fresh hot-bed. 

 The cuttings of the young shoots, planted under a hand-glass 

 in a shady border, strike root readily. But by far the easiest 

 and most rapid mode is that of planting pieces of the roots. 



" Every little piece of the root of the Paulownia will, under 

 certain conditions, produce a plant. It is only necessary to 

 make a common hot-bed early in the spring, reduce the roots 

 of the parent tree, (and it will bear a very severe reduction,) 

 and plant every piece that will make a cutting not smaller than 

 a goose-quill, and a couple of inches long. Plant these bits of 

 roots about an inch and a half deep in the rich, light soil of the 

 hot-bed. In a fortnight's time every bit will throw up a bud, 

 make new roots, and become a distinct plant. When the plants 



