Paulownia tomentosa

The princess tree or empress tree ("kirinoki" in Japanese) is in the paulownia or Paulowniaceae family and is native to China, but also is widely found in Japan. It grows up to 25 m tall and has leaves and round leaf scars that look similar to those of Indian bean tree (Catalpa speciosa).

• Leaves are simple, opposite, heart-shaped (and sometimes 5-lobed) and quite large, 15–40cm long, green above and paler below.
• Flower buds develop over winter as clusters of oval, light brown "pods" up to 2 cm in diameter, on stocks, in the spring producing fragrant flowers before the leaves start to show.
• Flowers are in showy panicles, 10–30 cm long, with tubular purple corollas 4–6 cm long.
• Fruit is light-green panicles of grape-like capsules, developing by late fall into dry egg-shaped capsules 3–4 cm long containing numerous tiny seeds with surrounding wings (like small elm seeds), about 3 mm in diameter.
• Branches are covered with lenticels; winter leaf scars are round with circles of vascular bundles inside.