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Paulownia kawakamii; photograph (c) Wang.QG, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Wang.QG, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2026-05-10

Paulownia kawakamii T.Itô

Sapphire Dragon Tree

Paulowniaceae · China South-Central, China Southeast +1

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Paulownia kawakamii T.Itô: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Ito.

No habitat climate
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Paulownia kawakamii, photograph (c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Paulownia kawakamii, photograph (c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Paulownia kawakamii, photograph (c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Paulownia kawakamii, photograph (c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY)Paulownia kawakamii, photograph Groogle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia CommonsPaulownia kawakamii, photograph NasserHalaweh, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons 11 photographs ›

Summary

Paulownia kawakamii, commonly known as the sapphire dragon tree, is a tree species in the family Paulowniaceae.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Paulownia kawakamii", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Paulownia

Paulownia is a genus of seven to 17 species of hardwood trees in the family Paulowniaceae, the order Lamiales. The genus and family are native to east Asia and are widespread across China. The genus, originally Pavlovnia but now usually spelled Paulownia, was named in honour of Anna Pavlovna, queen consort of The Netherlands (1795–1865), daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Paulownia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Nothing derived: no habitat climate for this species.

Climate across the habitat

No habitat climate can be derived: 196 in-range records, none placed to within 10 km. 196 of the 196 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or to no stated accuracy and fewer than three decimals or by something other than a person's observation, and cannot place a climate cell, though they count for the map and its marker.

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeChina South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker25.602, 110.586 · in the densest population, 162 records (83% of those in range)
Kew's description“tree” · “temperate” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 196 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 91 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 8 km away. 4 records outside the WCVP native range not used. No climate across the range is derived for this species. 196 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 8953685 (Paulownia kawakamii T.Itô): Kew's file holds it as Paulownia kawakamii T.Itô (accepted); 4 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 196 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Paulownia kawakamii, photograph 1did not loadPaulownia kawakamii, photograph 2did not loadPaulownia kawakamii, photograph 3did not loadPaulownia kawakamii, photograph 4did not loadPaulownia kawakamii, photograph 5did not loadPaulownia kawakamii, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) angryphyco, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); Groogle, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons; NasserHalaweh, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Other Paulownia 5 in the reference

Paulownia elongata Paulownia elongata Paulowniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, ZinogrePaulownia fargesii Paulownia fargesii Paulowniaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, monickerPaulownia fortunei Paulownia fortunei Dragontree Photo: CC BY, Jaw-Jian LaPaulownia × taiwaniana Paulownia × taiwaniana Paulowniaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedPaulownia tomentosa Paulownia tomentosa Foxglove-tree Photo: CC BY, Henry Miller

Names & registers

Also known as Paulownia rehderiana; Paulownia thyrsoidea; Paulownia viscosa. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Paulowniaceae
Described by
T.Itô
Native to
China South-Central, China Southeast, Taiwan
Wild records
196 in range · 91 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 3727026 is Paulownia kawakamii Ito; the page links Kew's Paulownia kawakamii T.Itô, and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 4 records of GBIF's key 8953685, Paulownia kawakamii T.Itô (Kew's file holds it as Paulownia kawakamii T.Itô (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 6 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 2 at a herbarium; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22196 in-range records, none placed to within 10 km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 17 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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