
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.
(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.]