Hello all, I need help identifying this tropical/sub-tropical looking oddity of a plant that appeared out of nowhere last summer in the woods behind my home in Maryland. The plant is about 12 - 15 feet tall in the pictures I included, those were taken in late summer. When I discovered the thing it was already 7 - 8 feet tall, and I frequently go back there, so I'm betting it grows pretty fast because as strange as looks in that environment I couldn't have overlooked it more than a few times. The leaves on this thing are huge, the larger ones I estimate are 1 1/2 to 2 ft. in width. The leaves grow directly from the stalk in pairs about a foot apart from one another in a north/south - east/west sequence going up the stalk. The leaves are a lighter green in color and their surface is covered with "peach fuzz". The stalk is a darker green with tan vertical striations. The stalk is sturdy, though it is hollow, the leaves are rather thin but seemed to hold up well, their stems are strong and also hollow but can be easily separated from the stalk at the joint. The plant emits no significant odor that I am aware of, and didn't seem to attract interest from any insects. I don't recall it flowering and noticed no change in it;s appearance other than growing taller and adding more leaves. I have scanned the area in search of family or friends with no luck. I have determined however that a smaller one did exist in the same area because I have the stalk from that one. I had picked it up when I was doing some clean up work back there (lazy people using the woods as a trash can) and I held onto it because it is very similar to bamboo and I had never seen anything native like it before. It had been dead for awhile when I found it, no leaves were attached and it was no longer green, but it was lite and stiff with a hollow center. I was thinking maybe it was a branch or something and didn't really give it much thought until I looked closely at the stalk of the living one. I noticed it had that bamboo kind of notching at even intervals, which is where the leaves connect to the stalk, just like the dead one I found the previous year.I compared the stick with the stalk and though the stalk of the living one is much larger in diameter (2 1/2 inches vs. 1/2 inch) I'm 99 percent sure their of the same kind. Last year when the temperature dropped and fall set-in, I curiously watched the plants reaction to the cold, being unsure of it's origins or native habitat, and it's tropical look. It lasted surprisingly late into fall before, one by one, the leaves began to separate cleanly from the stalk and fall to the ground. A few months went bye and the thing looked quite dead, and wanting to see if it would become hard like bamboo, I broke the stalk at about the eight foot mark. I wanted to leave a good portion intact in case it came back, though I didn't give it much hope. To my surprise I noticed little sprouts where the stems attached to the stalk previously. So it appears to have survived. Now I feel bad for taking the top half of it. It still seems out of place to me, maybe just a little far north? The surrounding trees give it decent cover even in the winter. We did have a couple good snows and a few blisteringly cold nights on the other hand. So can someone fill me in on what the official name of this plant is, whether it's out of it's normal growing region or not, if not, is it rare or endangered? Basically is this plant anomalous or special in any way? I hope it is, but if not, I like anyways and want it to have whatever it needs to prosper. Besides, my friends wouldn't know if I was feeding them a bunch of BS if I told them that the Discovery channel is interested in coming out to the house and getting some footage of the plant that has been extinct since before the last ice age! Mystery Plant in Maryland ( photo / image / picture from ZooS's Garden ) Mystery Plant in Maryland #2 ( photo / image / picture from ZooS's Garden )
That's the Paulownia tomentosa (Empress Tree, Princess Tree) click blue link for more photos and information. Most people don't want these in their yards, they can be very invasive by self seeding.
Thank you Toni! I must admit I'm a bit disappointed that my mystery plant is no rare find, and worse yet seems to be quite loathed, as if it were a common weed. Although I concur with your I.D., that being the Empress Tree, all the other examples I have seen are not impressive and do look like large weeds. My example on the other hand is a "looker". And being that it is the only Empress in the twelve acre patch of woods behind my backyard, and the only one I have ever seen period, I don't think eradicating it will make it on my "to do" list. Has anyone else noticed the bamboo like quality of the stalk?
This is not answered correctly. I am currently trying to identify this plant name as well. We had a few in a garden area in the side yard and loved it. It grew for years during the spring and summer, then we would chop it at the lower part of stalk come fall, and like clockwork they'd come back in the spring. They grown tall, and fast. It was a great plant to look at. Amazing how fast it grew and how big it would get. I looked up the names provided in this thread and they weren't what we were talking about. Anyone figure the actual name out yet? Because it isn't a princess tree, or a Paulownia tomentosa. You can simply type that in and search images to see that's not the plant we are referring too... I'd really like to know what it is and how to cultivate it again. We would like a few more in the yard. Help!!! Lol. Thanks!
This is the plant i cannot identify, the one you posted was not it. You can look up your plant name and see they are vastly different.
Try looking at pictures of the Oxytree/ Paulownia elongata x Paulownia Fortunei and see what you think.
Man that's close. But they don't grow into trees... Just seasonal. I'm from the northeast in N.Y.. they don't last reverb the fall. Do these grow into trees? I looked up the name quick, and it seemed to grow flowers and become a tree.
They do grow into trees under the right conditions. They are hybrids - read more about them here: http://www.hortweek.com/paulownia/landscape/article/1176069
I have a mystery plant/weed too, almost within a week and about 3 feet tall, right behind my bird of paradise like it's trying to sneak in, I did think my bird of paradise had s p router a new stock but it's way different
Hi & welcome, Denilynn! That's definitely not Strelitzia (bird of paradise.) Compare your plant to Catalpa. If you just want it gone, it's particular ID is irrelevant. Obviously going to soon be way too big to let it grow that close to your house, any tree. It's definitely some kind of tree and it is going to be hard to dig up at this size already. You'll probably need to dig up both it & the bird, separate & replant the bird. I might put the bird somewhere else or in a pot for a while, to monitor the spot and be able to dig if more tree starts to grow from roots that got chopped and stayed in the ground when the tree was removed.
