Re: Paulownia tomentosa - Nothing like making millions off a weed!
In case anyone cares, this comes from paulownia.org
Is it an alien invader?
... Is it a weed?
... Is it a crop?
It's SuperTree!
If trees interest you, you will find Paulownia difficult to ignore. Highly prized for its easily-worked wood and its ability to establish a quick canopy, this tree with leaves as large as a meter wide is condemned as an invasive weed by some outside its native China. It has been harvested to extinction in Japan, one of its earliest habitats.
When severely copiced, Paulownia can regrow a mature tree within a single season, and produces millions of small fluffy seeds formerly used as packing material. Yet this enigmatic tree is difficult to propagate, seeming to prefer to establish itself in the parking lots of abandoned filling stations and other exhausted soils.
Paulownia.org exists as a means for Paulownia producers to find markets, and for consumers of Paulownia to find sources. In what is hoped to be the best tradition of the World-Wide Web, some of the current and projected facilities of Paulownia.org are free, and some, to support the ongoing work, are provided for a fee designed to be an excellent marketing value for small entities with limited promotional budgets.
For more information about the tree itself, see:
support.net
- Jeff |
