TULIP-BEARING LIRIODENDRON. 25 



imbricated, whicli in spring are distended by the growth of the minute bundle of 

 leaves that they enclose, till they finally fall oft'. The terminal bud of each 

 shoot swells considerably before it gives birth to the leaf. It forms an oval en- 

 velope, containing the young leaf, which is produced to the light as soon as it 

 has acquired sufficient strength to endure the influences of the atmosphere. 

 Within this envelope is found another, which, after the first leaf is put forth, 

 swells, bursts, and gives birth to a second. On young and vigorous trees, five or 

 six leaves issue, successively, in this manner, from one bud. Till the leaf has 

 acquired its growth, it retains the two scales which composed the envelope, and 

 which are now called stipules. In spring, when the weather is warm and 

 humid, the growth of the leaves is very rapid. They are six or eight inches 

 broad, borne on long petioles, alternate, somewhat fleshy, smooth, and of a pleas- 

 ing green colour. They are divided into three lobes, of which the middle one is 

 horizontally notched at its summit, and the two lower ones rounded at the 

 base. This conformation is peculiar to this tree, and thereby renders it distin- 

 guishable from all others. In Carolina and Georgia the flowers appear in April 

 and May, and in the northern parts of the United States, in June and July. On 

 detached trees, they are large, brilliant, very numerous, and variegated with dif- 

 ferent colours, among which, yellow predominates. They have an agreeable 

 odour, and, surrounded by the luxuriant foliage, they produce a fine effect 

 The fruit is composed of numerous thin, narrow scales, attached to a common 

 axis, and forming a conical spike, two or three inches in length. Each spike or 

 fruit contains sixty or seventy carpels, of which, never more than a third, and 

 in some seasons, not more than seven or eight in the whole number are produc- 

 tive. It is also observed, that during ten years after it begins to yield fruit, 

 nearly all the seeds, Avhen sown, prove abortive; and that, on large trees, the 

 seeds from the highest branches are the best. 



Varieties. The Liriodendron tulipifera comprises three varieties, which may 

 be regarded as distinct from the species. 



1. L. T. OBTUsiLOBA, Loudou. Blunt-leaved Tulip-tree^ with blunter leaves 

 than the original, but in no other respect different from ii. 



2. L. T. AcuTiFOLiA, Loudoii. Aciite-leaved Tulip-tree., with leaves smaller and 

 more acutely cut than either the preceding variety or the species. 



3. L. T. FLAVA, Loudon, bellow -flowered Tulip-tree., very rare. 



Geography and History. The southern extremity of Lake Champlain, accord- 

 ing to Michaux, may be considered in its natural distribution, as the northern, 

 and the river Connecticut as the eastern limit of this tree. It is only westerly of 

 the Hudson, and southerly of the forty-third degree of latitude, that it is fre- 

 quently met with, and, fully developed. It is multiplied in the middle states, in 

 the upper parts of Carolina and Georgia, and still more abundantly in the west- 

 ern states, particularly in Kentucky, where it displays its most powerful vegeta- 

 tion. Its comparative rareness in the maritime parts of the Carolinas and of 

 Georgia, in the Floridas, and in lower Louisiana, is owing less to the heat of 

 summer than to the nature of the soil, which, in some parts, is too dry, as in the 

 pine-barrens, and in others too wet, as in the swamps which border the rivers. 

 It is commonly found mingled with other trees, such as the hickories, the black- 

 walnut, and butternut, the Kentucky coffee-tree, (Gymnocladus canadensis.) and 

 the wild cherry-tree ; but it sometimes constitutes, alone, considerable tracts of 

 the forest, as was observed by the elder Michaux, on the road from Beardstone 

 to Louisville, in Kentucky. The artificial geography of this tree may be said 

 to embrace the middle region of Europe, from Berlin and Warsaw, on the north, 

 to the shores of tlie Mediterranean and Naples, on the south ; Ireland on the 

 west, and Crimea on the east. It is successfidly cultivated along the maritime 

 parts of the United States, from Ncwburyport, in Massachusetts, to St. Mary's, 

 in Georgia. 4 



