Paulownia Siebold & Zucc.
Deciduous trees. Lvs opposite, petiolate, simple; lamina large, ovate or shallowly 3-lobed, mostly entire but toothed in young plants. Infl. a large, terminal cymose panicle of many fls, produced before the lvs. Calyx deeply 5-lobed; lobes equal. Corolla tubular- or campanulate-funnelform, generally mauve; limb somewhat oblique, ± bilabiate with 5 subequal lobes. Stamens 4, included. Capsule ± ovoid, loculicidal; valves woody. Seeds numerous, fairly large, with surrounding broad wing.
c. 15 spp., E. Asia. Naturalised sp. 1.
Paulownia is sometimes placed in Bignoniaceae [ see, Takhtajan, A. L., Bot. Review 46(3): 297 (1980)], but is said to belong unequivocally to the Scrophulariaceae, based on floral anatomy and the morphology of the seed and embryo [ see, Armstrong, J. E., Amer. J. Bot. 72: 755-766 (1985)].
