NAT. ORDER 

 MagnoliacecB. 



LIRIODENDRON TULEPIFERA. COMMON TULIP-TREE. 



Class XIII. PoLYANDRiA. Order III. Polygynia. 



Gen. Char. Floicers, sometimes aggregated in a four-leaved iavo- 



lucrum. Calyx, four-toothed. Petals, four. Drupe, with a 



two-celled nut. 

 Sj)e. Char. — Arborescent. Leaves, ovate, acuminate. Involucruni, 



large, with abcordate leaflets. 



This magnificent tree rises from eighty to one hundred and forty 

 feet in height ; the trunk is smooth, straight, branched towards the 

 top, and covered with a rough, thick, coarse, ash-colored bark ; the 

 jiowers are produced at the ends of the branches, and resemble the 

 tulip, more than the lily or any other flower ; the petals are from six 

 to twenty-seven in number ; the outer ones oblong, and the inner 

 ones lanceolate ; the leaves are on petioles, large, glossy, and pandu- 

 rifonn, or guitar-shaped. 



This is one of the largest and most beautiful of American forest 

 trees. The trunk is large, and much valued for lumbering purposes, 

 rising to a great height, without branches, and putting forth, about 

 the middle of May, an abundance of superb flowers, marked with 

 green, yellow and red streaks, which, together with its beautiful 

 foliage, give to the tree a very magnificent appearance. The bark, 

 which is employed in medicine, is of a strongly bitter, and slightly 

 aromatic taste. According to the analysis of Dr. Rogers, it contains 

 gum, resin, muriatic acid, iron, calcareous salt, gum mucus, and 

 fecula. This bark has been long employed, both in domestic and 



Vol. iii.— 56. 



