530 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



end, rounded, with a minute point. They then fall, leaving a 

 slight annular scar, above the base of the leaf. 



The leaves are on long, angular footstalks, very large at base. 

 They are 4-lobed, the lobes ending in rounded or sharp points, 

 and separated by broad, shallow sinuses. The terminal lobes 

 end abruptly, as if the extremity of the leaf had been cut off. 

 In large leaves, each of the lobes is occasionally divided into 

 2, and the lower ones sometimes into 3 or more partial lobes or 

 large teeth. In some varieties, the points of the lobes are obtuse. 

 The leaves are smooth, and of a light green above, glaucous or 

 whitish beneath, with downy nerves, and finely reticulated 

 veins. 



The large, solitary flowers have the shape, size and appear- 

 ance of a lily. They are contained in a sheath of 2 triangular 

 leaves, which are thrown off by the expansion of the flower. 

 The sepals are of a greenish color, striate or veined and dotted, 

 sub-coriaceous in texture, concave and spreading, afterwards 

 bending back. The petals are also striate or veined and dotted, 

 of a greenish-yellow, somewhat fleshy in texture, and marked 

 towards the base with a crescent-shaped spot of bright orange. 

 In the centre is a large, conical, pointed pistil, surrounded by 

 numerous stamens with long anthers. 



The bark of the root and branches of the tulip tree is re- 

 markable for its pungent, bitter and aromatic taste, and agreeably 

 aromatic odor, and acts on the system as a stimulating tonic, 

 as a diaphoretic and as a sudorific. It has been successfully 

 employed in the treatment of chronic rheumatism and intermit- 

 tent fever. The useful properties are most completely extracted 

 by alcohol.— Big. Med. Bot., II, 111. 



The wood of the tulip tree, under the name of white wood, 

 is extensively used in every part of the country. In the West- 

 ern States, it supplies, in a great degree, the deficiency of pine, 

 and is used by the joiner, as a substitute, in the inner wood work 

 of houses. In New England, it is preferred to other kinds of 

 wood in all uses which require great flexibility, as about stairs, 

 for the wash-board in circular rooms and for the pannels of 

 carriages; also for the bottom of drawers, and for pannels in 

 common wardrobes and other small articles. It is remarkably 



