1494 '^he Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



classics,^ the wood of which was used in ancient times for making lutes. It is largely 

 planted as an ornamental tree throughout China, Korea, and Japan ; and was prob- 

 ably introduced into the latter country at an early period by the Buddhist monks.^ 



This species often produces root-suckers at a considerable distance from the 

 parent tree ; and when cut down, sprouts vigorously from the stool. The seedling, 

 which has an herbaceous stem, usually dies down at the end of the first year ; but in 

 the following spring a permanent and more woody stem arises from a bud close to 

 the ground. The leaves on young plants (which are very large), on root-suckers, and 

 on coppice shoots differ from the foliage of the adult tree, their margin being furnished 

 with numerous short teeth, while their upper surface is velvety to the touch and 

 very viscid, owing to the presence of numerous glandular hairs and sessile glands. 



The Paulownia may be raised from seed sown in spring, or from root-cuttings ; 

 and may also be propagated by stem-cuttings under glass, or even from leaf-cuttings, 

 At Kew this species is very effective as a foliage plant in beds out of doors. The 

 plants, when about three years old, are cut down in early spring to within 6 inches of 

 the ground ; and when they start to grow, all the buds except one on each stem are 

 removed. Watered in dry weather and mulched with manure, stems are produced 

 about 6 ft. high, which bear enormous leaves, 12 to 1 8 in. in diameter. 



This tree was introduced^ into Europe in 1834, by seeds sent from Japan to 

 Paris by M. de Cussy ; and one of the original trees in the Jardin des Plantes 

 measured in 1904 about 60 ft. in height, and 12 ft. in girth. It succeeds well in 

 France and Italy, where it attains a considerable size, and regularly produces flowers 

 and fruit. 



It was introduced * into England by seeds from Japan in 1838, and was cultivated 

 in the Horticultural Society's garden at Chiswick ; but it has never attained large 

 dimensions in this country, and probably many of the older trees were killed in the 

 severe winters of i860 and 1866. It flowers frequently in the south of England, but 

 rarely produces fruit, and very seldom fertile seed. (A. H.) 



The largest tree I know of in England is one standing near the entrance lodge 

 at Westonbirt, Gloucestershire, which as measured in August 191 1, by Mr. A. 

 Chapman, was 56 ft. by 7 ft. at 3 ft. from the ground. 



The next is at Wilton House, which in 1906 measured 53 ft. by 6 ft. 8 in., but 

 being in a damp situation it has only flowered twice in fifty years, and Mr. Challis 

 informed me that it suffered much in the hard winters of 1860-61, and 1879-80. A 

 fine tree at Linton Park, Maidstone, in 191 1 measured 45 ft. high and 9 ft, in girth 

 at 6 ft. from the ground. At Caldrees, Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, there is a tree 

 about 25 ft. high and 3I ft. in girth, which produces flowers and fruit nearly every 

 year. From its seeds, plants were raised in 1902, one of which was planted at 

 Ickleton Grange, and is now. 12 ft. high, 



1 Cf. Bretschneider, Bot. Sinic. ii. 348 (1892). It is colloquially known in China as the pao-fung, in order to distin- 

 guish it from the wu-t'ung {SUrculia platanifolia), and the t'ung-yu {Aleurites cordata). 



2 It is figured by Kaempfer, Amcen. Exot. 860 (1712). 



3 Actes Premier Cmigris Internal. Bot., Paris, 536 (1900). Cf. also Card. Chrm. 1841, pp. 349, 701, where it is 

 stated that a single plant was raised in the Royal Garden in Paris, from Japanese seed, in 1S34. 



« Loudon, Card. Mag. xvi. 635 (1840). It flowered in a greenhouse at Oakfield near Cheltenham in 1843, according 

 to Loudon, Gard. Mag. 1843, p. 649. 



