Paulownia fortunei

The Fortune’s empress tree or the dragontreeis in the paulownia or Paulowneaceae family and is native to southeastern China, Laos and Vietnam. It normally can attain a height of about 20 m.

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 P. tomentosa.

• Leaves are ovate, mostly 13–25 cm long and 7–12 cm across, tapering to a point, heart-shaped at the base, but leaves below flower-buds are much smaller and are usually rounded or wedge-shaped at the base; underside is densely woolly; petioles are 7.5–11 cm long.
• Flowers are in cymes of 3 flowers, shortly stalked, arranged in the form of a narrow panicle. The calyx is funnel-shaped, 2.1 cm long; the corolla is funnel-shaped, lavender-purple in the bud and retaining that colour on the outside, but white or creamy white inside and heavily spotted with dark purple, 8.7–10 cm long and 5 cm across at the mouth.
• Seed capsules are woody, oblong-ellipsoid, 5-7.5 cm long.