ABSTRACT The anatomical and physical properties of tension wood (TW), opposite wood (OW) and lateral wood (LW) in the branches of Korean paulownia ( Paulownia coreana ) were compared. The diameter of TW vessels was larger than that of OW and LW vessels. The most distinctive feature of TW fibers was the presence of a gelatinous layer (G-fiber). The cell wall of TW fibers was nearly three times as thick as that of OW and LW. TW differed from OW and LW in density, X-ray diffraction pattern and shear and compressive strengths. The results obtained in this study showed clear differences in the anatomical and physical properties of TW, OW and LW of Paulownia coreana branch woods. Keywords : branch wood, gelatinous fiber, lateral wood, opposite wood, Paulownia coreana , tension wood 1 Date Received May 1, 2014, Date Accepted June 11, 2014 2 College of Forest and Environmental Sciences, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Korea † Corresponding author : Nam-Hun Kim (e-mail: kimnh@kangwon.ac.kr)