Uses of Paulownia Tree


Paulownia is famous for planting along road and as an ornamental tree in China. It needs a lot of light and does not like high water tables. It's growth on plantations generally has widely spaced growth rings, meaning that it is soft and of little value; wood with close growth rings is harder and of higher value. It is important in China, Korea, and Japan for making the soundboards of stringed musical instruments such as the guqin, guzheng, pipa, koto, and gayageum. It is also becoming more popular in the building of electric guitars, due to its affordability, availability, tone and looks.
Paulownia is also used in Chinese agroforestry systems because it grows fast, its wood is light but strong, its flowers are rich in nectar, its leaves make good fodder for farm animals, it is deep-rooting, and it is late-leafing and its canopy is quite sparse so that crops below it get both light enough to grow and shelter.[7]
Paulownia wood is very light, fine-grained, and warp-resistant. It is the fastest-growing hardwood. It is used for chests, boxes, and clogs (geta). Its low silica content reduces dulling of blades, making it a preferred wood for boxes to hold fine Japanese edge tools. The wood is burned to make charcoal for sketching and powder for fireworks, the bark is made into a dye. The silvery-grey wood is sliced into veneers for special visiting cards.[8][9]Paulownia is known in Japanese as kiri (桐), specifically referring to P. tomentosa; it is also known as the "princess tree".[citation needed] It was once customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl was born, and then to make it into a dresser as a wedding present when she married.[citation needed] Paulownia is the mon of the office of prime minister and also serves as the emblem of the cabinet and the government (vis-à-vis the chrysanthemum being the Imperial Seal of Japan).[citation needed] It is one of the suits in hanafuda, associated with the month of December.[citation needed] Japan: An Illustrated Encyclopedia states:
A Japanese Kobundō (小分銅), 95–97% gold, "Paulownia" Kiri (桐) mark, Kikubana (菊花) emblem, 373.11 grams, Japan.
More recently, it is used as body material for low-cost electric guitars and as the core for lightweight touring skis.[citation needed] It is often used in guitars as the core body, then laminated under a more durable wood, such as the Dean ML XM that is made of Paulownia as the body but is topped with mahogany.
Paulownia is extremely fast growing; up to 20 feet in one year when young. Some species of plantation Paulownia can be harvested for saw timber in as little as five years. Once the trees are harvested, they regenerate from their existing root systems, earning them the name of the "Phoenix tree
As a forestry crop Paulownia are exacting in their requirements, performing well only in very well draining soil, with summer rainfall or availability of irrigation water.

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Paulownia trees have attracted great interest, and the genus has developed a substantial “following” in the US over the past few decades. As highlighted in this communication, they have been popular in Asia for a great many centuries. We have invited the author, who has a commercial agroforestry and tree plantation services company, to share some of his passion for this plant which clearly has substantial potential for sustainable agroforestry systems in many areas of the world. Introduction The Paulownia tree has been grown in China for at least 2600 years. It may well hold the record for history’s oldest plantation tree. In ancient times (221-207 BC), a book entitled On Qin Dynasty reported that thousands of Paulownias were planted around Arfang City in China (1). Paulownia wood, a light-colored hardwood, has been revered for centuries by Japanese craftsmen because of its workability and beauty. In the Japanese tradition, Paulownia was used to build kotos (Japanese harps) because of the wood’s superior acoustical quality. Paulownia species probably first came to the United States sometime during the mid-1800s, although researchers have also discovered evidence that the genus Paulownia grew in the northwestern United States in prehistoric times (2). Because the seeds are very tiny and light in weight (1.75 million per pound), the Chinese immigrants often used the seed to cushion their dishes and other breakables when shipping from the Orient. Some seeds undoubtedly escaped and took root. About 1970, a group of Japanese wood buyers, while driving through Virginia, noticed the trees growing wild. The Japanese began buying up these old-growth (P. tomentosa) Paulownia logs. By 1979, U.S. growers established a commercial plot with three acres of P. elongata planted in Polk County, North Carolina.

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