Talk:Paulownia tomentosa

North Carolina State University horticulturist

Anyone considering planting this tree may want to first check out this website from North Carolina State University: www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/consumer/factsheets/trees-new/paulownia_tomentosa. After reading what their horticulturist had to say, I decided against it (messy fruit, difficult to grow plants underneath; messy tree; weedy tree). Considering that it grows 30 to 50 feet tall and 20 to 30 feet wide, it might crowd out or kill everything else around it. Sure is pretty, though.

Kiri?

Is it called "kiri" (桐) in Japanese? Badagnani (talk) 20:27, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

Tree or trees

Badagnani (talk · contribs) asked, at 07:52, 17 June 2008, hidden in a comment that has since been removed from Kiri (disambiguation),

Are all of these the same species, or different species?

The context was

• Kiri (桐), the Japanese name for Paulownia tomentosa, the Empress Tree, Princess Tree, or Phoenix Tree, whose wood is used for carving in China and Japan and for making string instruments in Asia.

(and was accompanied by a ref tag for ja:桐). The article Paulownia tomentosa does not mention all of those at this point.
This msg has been added to the talk pages for both the Dab and the article.
--Jerzy•t 19:38, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

ja:桐 says the species is used for making the koto. Badagnani (talk) 19:48, 11 August 2008 (UTC)

"Packing material" Theory

This story that Paulownia tomentosa spread along US railroad right-of-ways from broken packing cases sounds apocryphal. Is they any real documentation for this or is it just a good story? The tree much more likely escaped from cultivation due to massive seed production/fast growth, etc. after it's introduction in the 1840s.

For that matter Chinese porcelains were exported in large quantities to many eastern North American ports first by British and then US ships in the 18th c., yet the Paulownia only appeared as a rare exotic in botanic collections and nurseries in the 1840s. And in its early introduction it was considered a Japanese tree. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.160.218.42 (talk) 23:07, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Merge?

At Paulownia talk page it was bought up that there may be Duplicate entry. I agree and think the two article should be merged. Does anyone else have an opinion. ?oygul (talk) 05:12, 7 March 2014 (UTC)

Need images of young Paulownia

This plant looks very different when it's immature. Further, its large size even when immature can lead those trying to identify it (e.g., me) to not realize the specimen they're interested in is immature. I was relatively sure I was looking at a Paulownia tomentosa, then had my confidence shaken when I looked at all the (mature) images on this page. I now think my specimen is an immature P. tomentosa, and is simply not visually represented here. 74.92.140.243 (talk) 20:28, 1 March 2015 (UTC)

Bioproductivity values and sources

"An acre of empress trees can absorb 103 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year. Once the trees reach maturity, farmers harvest their wood for use in houses or musical instruments.[10]"

Cited Bloomberg article gives no primary source (A subjective quote of a commercial timber grower immediately follows the 103 t figure, but it's not at all clear that the individual quoted is the source of the value). If this figure is correct, it pertains to specific cultivars and/or conditions, cf. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jose_Ramon_Martinez/publication/271847460_Biomass_yield_potential_of_paulownia_trees_in_a_semi-arid_Mediterranean_environment_S_Spain/links/57ff309c08ae6b2da3c89b4d/Biomass-yield-potential-of-paulownia-trees-in-a-semi-arid-Mediterranean-environment-S-Spain.pdf reporting both significant variability and a maximum value of 14t/ha dry biomass, which would equate to roughly 42t CO2 assimilation/acre, so more specifics are needed to support the 103 tCO2/acre value. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ultrarad2019 (talk • contribs) 13:54, 9 December 2019 (UTC)