A lovely tree with huge leaves, and this one is fruiting very well - not bad for a tropical/sub-tropical tree from China that actually prefers climates averaging about 10C warmer than ours!
The generic name Paulownia was named by Siebold after the Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna (or Paulowna) Romanov of Russia, who was married to King William the 2nd of the Netherlands in the early 19th Century. Apparently the axillary buds are hidden in the bark! the leaves may drop and then change colour on the ground - we shall see! This species grown here (this is by far the best known species although there may be about half a dozen recognised in and around China) is called tomentosa because of the hirsuteness of the young leaves, and, I believe of the young shoots, inflorescence and flower buds. There are three main varieties of the species, which I cannot distinguish, but which may differ in the degree of tomentosum on the leaves.
There are records of what are apparently Paulownia leaf fossils from the late Tertiary in Washington State in the USA, in the region of 5 million years ago, suggesting that this genus is another member of the Arcto-Tertiary relict fauna, now extinct over much of its likely original Northern Temperate range. These are the only known fossils relating to Scrophulariacea and its close relatives, all the other members being herbaceous and rather unlikely to be preserved in a recognisable state. This is about the time of the radiative evolution of the great apes, including the time of the first upright apes or Proto-hominoids, and the first elephants, the Mastodons, before the Ice Ages and the evolution of the Mammoths and the Stone Age. A moderately recent tree then!
The taxonomy is a little uncertain - it may be placed in the Foxglove family itself, the sole arboreal representative in the Scrophulariaceae, or in Bignoniaceae with Catalpa, or it may be placed in its own family, Paulowniaceae.
One story associated with this tree is that it was known in China as the Empress Tree, because only an Empress was allowed to have one planted on her grave - but this is maybe a little fanciful. Also from Wikipedia, also perhaps fanciful in part, "in China, the tree is planted at the birth of a girl. The fast-growing tree matures when she does. When she is eligible for marriage the tree is cut down and carved into wooden articles for her dowry. Carving the wood of Paulownia is an art form in Japan and China. In legend, it is said that the phoenix will only land on the Empress Tree and only when a good ruler is in power. Several Asian string instruments are made from P. tomentosa, including the Japanese koto and Korean gayageum zithers."
The wood is potentially very valuable and is highly valued in China (where it was harvested to near extinction) and very much in Japan, where it fits neatly into the culture. The tree is cultivated for its wood in countries such as Italy, Australia, and also in South America. It is potentially invasive, particularly it is suggested, on disturbed soils in the Eastern USA.
The seeds make the most wonderful packaging, like soft polystyrene! Used as such it may perhaps have contributed to the tree's early spread in the 19th Century in the Eastern USA. I wonder if the fruits are sticky? See the forest of dense rusty hairs on the old woody sepals here.
The bark is quite attractive, and here is a close-up of the label and bark.
It looks as though the bark makes a good substrate for lichens and algae:
The foliage and flowers are a little late to appear, the flowers being insect pollinated. The seed (about 2,000 per fruit according to one 1919 estimate) is quick to germinate, reputedly requiring light (typical ruderal), and the seedlings are quick to grow. Invasiveness might also be partly due to the tendency in some trees to throw up root suckers, occasionally in super-abundance.
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