CHAP. III. MAGNOLIA CEZ. LIRIODE/’NDRON. 285 
Spec. Char, Leaves smooth, truncate at the top; 4-lobed, resembling a 
saddle in shape. Flowers large, solitary, terminal, variegated with green, 
yellow, and orange colour; furnished with two deciduous bracteas under 
flowers. (Don’s Mill., i. p. 86.) 
Varieties. 
¥ L. T. 2 obtusiloba Michx., integrifolia UHort., the obtuse-lobed, or 
entire-leaved, Tulip Tree, Yellow Wood, or Yellow Poplar, has the 
leaves with blunter lobes than the original species, but is in no 
other respect different from it. See the plate of this tree in our 
Second Volume. 
¥ L. T. 3 acutifolia Michx. has the leaves smaller and more acutely cut 
than either the preceding variety or the species. We are not aware 
of any plants of it existing in British gardens. 
+ L. T.4 flava Hort. has yellow flowers, As most of the tulip trees in 
Europe have been raised from seeds, it is probable that their flow- 
ers vary in degrees of yellowness; but we are not aware that any 
variety, with the flowers entirely yellow, is propagated in British 
nurseries. It is, however, in the catalogue of the garden at Cour- 
set, and in some of the Paris catalogues. 
Description. This tree, in the Atlantic states of North America, accord- 
ing to Michaux, especially at a considerable distance from the sea, is often 
seen from 70 ft. to 100ft. in height, with a trunk the diameter of which 
varies from 18in. to 3ft. The elder Michaux found in Kentucky, on the 
road from Beardstone to Louisville, tulip trees which appeared to be 15 ft. or 
16 ft. in circumference ; and, three miles and a half from Louisville, he mea- 
sured one which, at 5 ft. from the ground, was 22 ft. 6in. in circumference, 
the height of which he found to be from 120 ft. to 140 ft. Of all the deci- 
duous trees of North America, the tulip tree, next to the button-wood 
(Platanus occidentalis), attains the amplest dimensions; while the perfect 
straightness and uniform diameter of its trunk for upwards of 40 ft., the 
regular distribution of its branches, and the richness of its foliage, give it a 
decided superiority to that tree, and entitle it to be considered one of the 
most magnificent trees of the temperate zones. In the developement of its 
leaves the tulip tree differs from most other trees. The leaf-buds, in general, 
are composed of scales closely imbricated, which, in the spring, are distended 
by the growth of the minute bundle of leaves that they enclose, till the 
finally fall off. The terminal bud of each shoot swells considerably before it 
gives birth to the leaf: it forms an oval envelope, which contains the young 
leaf, and which produces it to the light only when it appears to have acquired 
sufficient force 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 its envelope, 
and which are now called stipules. In the spring, when the weather is warm 
and humid, the growth of the leaves is very rapid: they are 6 in. or 8 in. 
broad, borne on long petioles, alternate, somewhat fleshy, smooth, and of a 
pleasing green colour. They are divided into three lobes; of which the 
middle one is horizontally notched at its summit, and the two lower ones are 
rounded at the base. This conformation is peculiar to the tulip tree, and 
renders it easily distinguishable in the summer. The flowers, which are 
large, brilliant, and, on detached trees, very numerous, are variegated with 
different colours, among which yellow predominates; they have an agree- 
able odour, and, surrounded by the luxuriant foliage, they produce a fine 
effect. In the spring they are gathered by women and children in_ the neigh- 
bourhood of ,New York, and sold in the market of that city. The fruit is 
composed of a great number of thin narrow scales, attached to a common 
axis, and forming a conical spike 2 in. or 3in. in length. Each fruit contains 
60 or 70 carpels ; of which never more than a third, and in some seasons not 
. 
