paulownia

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

paulownia (paw-LOH-nee-uh) - n., any of a genus (Paulownia) of deciduous trees of the begonia family native to China and Southeast Asia.


Continuing my words of plants. This one has large heart-shaped leaves, and one species in particular (P. tomentosa) is cultivated throughout Asia for its pink trumpet flowers, while another (P. fortunei) is a fast-growing hardwood. Its western name was adopted in the 1840s from the patronymic of Anna Pavlovna, daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia and queen consort of William II of The Netherlands, from whence also the alternative name of princess tree.

She wants a house with a Genji-themed garden, with paulowinia and wisteria and broom.

---L.

Comments

[squid-ink.livejournal.com]

it's one of the Plant Conservation Alliance, Alien Plant Working Group's least wanted trees (http://www.nps.gov/plants/alien/fact/pato1.htm). Its considered invasive in the SE US and a good part of the NE.

it's a nasty plant

[prettygoodword.livejournal.com]

Whee -- I hadn't realized.

---L.