The Taesongsan Catalpa is a tree protected as a living monument in Korea. It is growing at the Central Botanical Garden at the foot of Mt. Taesong in the capital city Pyongyang.
The great leader Kim Il Sung gave a field guidance to the Central Botanical Garden in May Juche 52(1963). He stopped before the tree and said a good name should be given to it as the flowers are beautiful and fragrant and proposed renaming it “catalpa” or fragrant paulownia.
The Taesongsan Catalpa is 8 metres high and its lower part is 95 centimetres round and chest 80 centimetres round.
The bark is dark grey, but young branches are green.
The tree is smart with broad and big leaves. The leaves are 10 to 18 centimetres long and 8 to 15 centimetres wide.
About 15 centimetre-long labelloid yellowish flowers bloom at the ends of twigs in June and July. The flower is beautiful and fragrant.
In autumn, 20 to 30 centimetre-long thin and long seedballs hang in a cluster. Catalpa is planted in large numbers in parks, pleasure grounds, gardens and so on as it is nice-looking. It is also used as wood for furniture and sculpture and fruits as medicinal materials.
