Description
Paulownia Princess Tree Flower Hydrosol
50ml
Pulownia tomentosa
Also known as Empress Flower Tree
Extracted from flowers
Artisan Steam Distillation
EXTREMELY RARE
Aroma is sweet vanilla, tuberose-like, with hyacinth-like buttery floral notes, slightly fruity, with a hint of green notes. Just gorgeous!
The princess tree blooms prolifically in early spring, producing 14-inch long panicles of lavender to pinkish-lavender trumpet-shaped flowers. These flowers have a sticky resin tip once plucked from tree. Amazing strong aroma!
The edible flowers emit a vanilla-type fragrance as described above. Often used on wedding cakes in Asia and the Middle Eastern regions of the world. Their large, heart-shaped, deep green leaves commonly grow to be between 8 and 12 inches long and sometimes the size of an umbrella. Paulownia tree wood is very valuable.
The Empress tree was introduced in the U.S. in 1834 as a beautiful flowering tree. The tree caught the attention of Pierre S. DuPont and he designed an allѐe of Empress trees along the walkway to the Longwood Gardens conservatory.
Also known as the Royal Paulownia it’s cultivation was promoted for what was believed to be a marketable wood to sell overseas to the Japanese. Because it was commonly grown, harvested and shipped to Japan, where it is used to make furniture and jewelry boxes. It is also used to make wooden crates. That marketing concept never worked out to a big scale, but the tree has worked its way into the USA East Coast native woodlands to the degree that is now a royal pain to some gardeners.
However when you experience the fragrance and see the huge panicle of violet flowers on Paulownia tomentosa and you can easily understand why it was brought here as a valued ornamental.
In the Middle East such as Israel, Lebanon, and Syria it is placed in some fruit orchards such as Almond, Citron, or Orange trees to maintain a healthy bee population because of enzymes in the pollen give bees healthy longevity in the hives. The flowers are often eaten in salads. The flowers are a favorite to add to honey and when strained it gives the honey that vanilla flavor.
There are legends among Asian and Middle Eastern cultures that this tree may have been in the Garden of Eden mainly because of the sheer size of its leaves. Some Jewish scholars translate the tree leaf used for Adam and Chava to cover themselves may have been a fig leaf because they can get quite large. However, some Rabbinical traditions state it was an unknown tree that had fragrant flowers and fig trees do not flower.
Some commentaries state it was this type of tree that stood beside the Tree of Life to shade it or hide it with its enormous leaves. It was said that Chava did not see the tree until she was called to the tree by the serpent.
It was said that only Adam knew the Tree of Life was there in the garden because he personally tended to the Tree of Life’s botanical care and needs. The word in the text is תְּאֵן which is of uncertain derivation or origins but so often translated as fig leaf and used in modern Hebrew as fig. Really it was adopted as the meaning fig. It was definitely something special to be used as a covering.
What is Hydrosol/Hydrolat?
Hydrosols are the aromatic remains following a plant, flower or tree resin steam distillation or Hydro-distillation process with similar, but much less concentrated properties of essential oil, and these include some of the properties of the whole oil molecules that you cannot get from just the Essential oil. This is like getting a whole plant therapy in a bottle that can be applied to your skin
These are made from my personal garden and from bushes that are pesticide and herbicide-free.
