A variety (var. angustifolia) with long, narrow leaves is occasionally cultivated.
Order XXX. SCROPHULARIÀCEÆ.
(Figwort Family.)
A large order of plants, almost entirely herbaceous; found in all climates; it includes one cultivated tree in this region.
Genus 64. PAULÒWNIA.
Tree with opposite (sometimes in whorls of three), large, deciduous, palmately veined, heart-shaped leaves. Leaf-stem often hollow; minute cup-shaped glands, separated from one another, situated on many portions of the leaf, but quite abundant on the upper side at the branching of the veins. Flowers large, in immense panicles; in spring, before the leaves expand. Fruit a dry, ovate, pointed capsule, 1½ in. long, with innumerable flat-winged seeds; hanging on the tree throughout the winter.
P. imperiàlis.
Paulòwnia imperiàlis, (Imperial Paulownia.) Leaves 7 to 14 in. long, sometimes somewhat lobed, usually very hairy beneath; 2 buds, almost hidden under the bark, above each other in the axil. Flowers purple, nearly 2 in. long, with a peculiar, thick, leather-like calyx. A broad flat-headed tree, of rapid growth when young. Cultivated; from Japan; and hardy throughout, but the flower-buds are winter-killed quite frequently north of New York City.
Order XXXI. BIGNONIÀCEÆ.