Abstract

Paulowin tomentosa is one of the newly introduced species to Iraq. It is among the fastest growing species in the world and the production of wood material; to provide data on the anatomical and chemical characteristics of the wood and to determine its suitability for the manufacture of pulp and paper, several 7-year-old trees were selected from paulownia farms in the Erbil Governorate in northern Iraq. Some of the phenotypic, and anatomical characteristics of the fibres and estimated the proportions of the chemical components of the wood of the main stem and the lower branches and of the two types—sapwood and sapwood for them. The fibre length was 0.917mm, and the fibre diameter, lumen diameter and cell wall thickness were (27.31, 16.65, and 4.95) µm, respectively. Ratios of Runkel, slenderness and flexibility of the fibres were (0.613, 30.78, and 66.75%) respectively. There is a possibility of making paper with acceptable properties. The chemical analysis of wood was also discussed, the percentage of dissolved extracts in the mixture of ethanol-benzene and hot water were (5.7801, and 6.3408) % respectively, and the percentage of lignin, ash and holocellulose were (22.7240, 0.2505 and 64.9044) % respectively. These percentages give the possibility of producing good pulp, except that the percentage of extracts in it is high, which causes some problems in bleaching process. The study indicated the possibility of using branches wood in the manufacture of pulp and paper, also no noticeable differences appeared between the two types of sapwood and heartwood of the tree’s stem and branches.