Paulownia fortunei (Seem.) Hemsl.

Paulownia fortunei has been recently introduced to Hebei, Henan, Shaanxi, and Shandong.

Trees, to 30 m tall; crown conical; young shoots, inflorescences, and fruit yellowish brown stellate tomentose. Trunk straight, ca. 2 m d.b.h.; bark gray-brown. Petiole ca. 12 cm, glabrous; leaf blade narrowly ovate-cordate, occasionally ovate-cordate, to 20 cm, 2-parted on new shoots, abaxially stellate hairy or glandular, tomentose when mature, and rarely sparsely hairy or glabrous, adaxially glabrous. Thyrses narrow and long, subcylindric, ca. 25 cm; cymes 3-8-flowered; peduncle as long as pedicels. Pedicel glabrous. Calyx obconical, 2-2.5 cm; lobes 1/4-1/3 of calyx length, ovate to triangular-ovate, narrowly triangular in fruit. Corolla white, purple, or light purple, tubular-funnelform, 8-12 cm; tube enlarged gradually, slightly bent forward, ventrally weakly ridged, outside stellate pilose. Stamens 3-3.5 cm, sparsely glandular hairy. Ovary glandular, occasionally stellate hairy. Capsule oblong to oblong-ellipsoid, 6-10 cm; beak to 6 cm; pericarp woody, 3-6 mm thick; persistent calyx 3-6 mm, woody. Seeds 6-10 mm including wing. Fl. Mar-Apr, fr. Jul-Aug.

Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Yunnan, Zhejiang [Laos, Vietnam].

Wild or cultivated. Mountain slopes, forests, mountain valleys, wastelands; below 2000 m.

Campsis fortunei Seemann, J. Bot. 5: 373. 1867; Paulownia duclouxii Dode; P. meridionalis Dode; P. mikado T. Ito.

Paulownia fortunei commonly called the dragontree, dragon tree or Fortune's empress tree, is a deciduous tree in the family Paulowniaceae, native to southeastern China (including Taiwan), Laos and Vietnam. It is an extremely fast-growing tree, due to its use of C4 carbon fixation, and is planted for timber harvesting. It appears to be nowhere near as dangerously invasive as Paulownia tomentosa.