Paulownia tomentosa

Empress Tree/Princess Tree

 

247 East Orange Street, Lancaster PA

 

Bill Bitzer

 

This tree, growing in a tiny backyard in the center of Lancaster, was the Pennsylvania co-champion as recently as 2006 but no remnant remains. The tree (with trunk circumference of 195 inches, height of 64 feet and spread of 57 feet) grew adjacent to a 1760 house which was home to John Passmore, Lancaster’s first mayor.

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(See the entry for the Princess Tree at Franklin & Marshall College for com-

ments about the value of this tree's wood.)

 

[Photo depicts a similar tree, not the Orange Street tree.]