90 LONDON TREES 



the ground, the branches having a spread of fully 

 36 feet. In the grounds of the Royal Botanic Society 

 there is also a tree of about similar age to that in 

 Regent's Park, but it is not of so large a size nor in so 

 healthy a condition. The leaves of the Paulownia, 

 which are ovate-cordate in shape and often 10 inches 

 long, are covered with a greyish woolly tomentum, 

 while the sweetly' scented Foxglove-like flowers are 

 of a purplish-violet colour and distinctly and freely 

 spotted with darker markings. 



Though perfectly hardy in other respects, it is 

 unfortunate that the season at which the Paulownia 

 flowers is so early that unless the conditions are 

 unusually favourable the flower buds get injured by 

 frost. For its ample foliage, however, even should 

 flowers never be produced, the Paulownia is well 

 worthy of cultivation, and when a tree is cut over, 

 shoots 6 feet long and 2 inches in diameter are fre- 

 quently perfected in a season. 



In Continental towns the Paulownia is widely 

 grown, and along the Paris boulevards it is recognised 

 as one of the most valuable and ornamental of hardy 

 trees. 



At Wimbledon and Roehampton, as also at Putney 

 and Hampstead, there are healthy specimens of the 

 Paulownia, but we are not aware that it is to be found 

 in the more densely populated or smoky parts of 

 London. 



The timber of the Paulownia is the lightest of 

 home-grown woods (one cubic foot of which weighs 

 22 lb., as against 65 Ib. of the oak), and a valuable 

 trait is that it neither warps, splits, nor shrinks. It 

 is yellowish-white in colour, and so compact that the 

 graining is hardly visible. For veneering purposes it 



