476 LIRIODENDRON TULIPIFERA. [Dec. 



LIRIODENDRON TULIPIFERA 



(Tulip Tkee). 



THIS is the yellow poplar, tulip poplar, and whitewood of the 

 American lumbermen — but these names are pure misnomers. 

 The tulip tree has no affinity with the poplar properly so called, 

 but belongs to the natural order Magnoliacece, and is closely allied 

 to the genus magnolia itself. It has not even any superficial 

 resemblance to any poplar, and the only probable basis for the two 

 first American popular names mentioned lies, perhaps, in the 

 similarity of its wood to that of the poplar; but even in this respect 

 the similarity is more apparent than real, as the wood of the tulip 

 tree is heavier, and denser in grain, than that of the poplar. 



Our illustration, Fig. 1, furnishes an excellent idea of the 

 general contour and habit of the tree, and Figs. 2 and 3 give an 

 accurate representation of the leaves, the flowers, and the fruit or 

 seed-vessel. It will be observed that the form of the leaves is 

 very remarkable. According to the botanists, they are truncately 

 lyrate, and there is no other instance, that we know, of this 

 peculiar fiddle- shaped leaf occurring among trees. The leaves are 

 bright shining green in summer, but die off a bright golden yellow 

 in autumn. The flowers are handsome, composed of six petals, in 

 form somewhat resembling a tulip, hence the specific name, the 

 colours being green and yellow, with brown or red spots. Old 

 trees produce flowers very freely in America, and also in this 

 country, but those under ten or twelve years rarely produce any 

 flowers. The fragrance of the flowers is very pleasing, and form a 

 source of income to the American flower-girls in spring. The 

 seed-vessel is cone-like, about 2 or 3 inches long, consisting of sixty 

 or seventy scales, each enclosing one seed, or the rudiment of a 

 seed, for it is rare to find more than a tenth of the whole 

 number in any one seed-vessel perfect or fertile. 



The tulip tree enjoys, perhaps, the widest geographical range in 

 America of any other tree indigenous to that country. It is 

 found in the States of Vermont, New England, Florida, New York, 

 Ontario, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee, and 

 North Carolina. It appears to reach its greatest development in 

 the last four States named, where it attains tlie height of nearly 

 200 feet, with a diameter of trunk of 6 feet to 8 feet. It 

 supplies the well-known " whitewood " of the American lumber- 

 men, which is largely used for cabinet-work, coach-building, and 

 inside furnishings for houses, but is not found suitable for pur- 

 poses in which it would be exposed to the weather, as it is liable to 

 rapid decay when so exposed. 



