14 
After an inspection of the first section of the new labor atory build- 
ing and conservatories, the members of the Garden staff and other 
officials of The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, accom- 
panied Professor Engler to the local flora section, where eveqy tine 
was in readiness for the planting. The tulip tree chosen was pre- 
sented by the curator of plants to the director of the Garden, who 
introduced the guest of honor. After the planting appropriate 
remarks were made by Professor Engler. The addresses follow: 
By THE CURATOR OF PLANTS 
Mr. Director: 
As Curator of Plants, I take pleasure in announcing that the 
tree chosen to be planted by Professor Engler is a specimen of the 
tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera. 
When it was announced that Professor Engler was to plant a 
tree for the Garden, we were at some pains to find a tree named 
for Professor Engler. Among the score or more of plants that 
have been named for him, there seemed to be only one tree. 
Fagus Engleri, from China, that is hardy in this region. We were 
unable to get a specimen of this tree. The tulip tree is repre- 
sented in this country by only a single species, native in the eastern 
United States, and by one species, a native of China. 
The tree makes a magnificent growth in the region just to the 
south of us, attaining a height of 180 feet and a diameter of about 
eight feet. During May or June, the tree produces a profusion 
of large tulip-like flowers, of a greenish-yellow color, followed 
subsequently by a cone-like fruit, parts of which remain on the 
tree during the following winter. The tree is interesting not only 
for its great beauty and size, but also on account of us commercial 
importance, it being the chief source of the common “ white wood a 
of the lumbermen. 
The geological history of the tree is extensive, as ancestors of 
this Liriodendron have been found in the rocks of the Lower 
Cretaceous, but there is some doubt as to whether this tulip tree of 
the Cretaceous period is the same as ours; the leaves have the 
same characteristic notched appearance that our modern tree 
displays. 
