Paulownia – Resilient Trees for Mountainous Land Use?

Paulownia (Paulowniaceae) is one of the world’s fastest growing trees, originally introduced from Asia to Europe in the 17th century. Its wood is one of the lightest, while keeping high flexibility and stability, making it an ideal wood for regenerative composite constructions (a wood core sandwiched by fiber belts, such as from hemp) like skis, surfboards, orthopedic splines, or electric car chassis. At the MonViso Institute we experiment with its resilience growth on 1500m asl. Prof. Dr. Tobias Luthe (AHO)