364 D E c I D r o u s trees. 



one hundred and fifty feel. Tliere is a noble old specimen north 

 of the Casino, in the New York Central Park, which exhibits all 

 the beauties and faults of the species. 



There are many other species and varieties of poplars which 

 are not distinguished by peculiarities or merits that make it desira- 

 ble to enumerate them. 



THE WHITEWOOD OR TULIP TREE. 



tulipifcra. 



Liriodendron 



A tree of lofty stature, straight and erect trunk, and exceeding 

 beauty of foliage. In its early growth the beauty of its leaves, 

 which are of singular form, their unusual 

 purity of color and perfect texture, and the 

 smooth and symmetric growth of the trunk 

 and branches, all combine to form an ele- 

 gant tree. Yet its head does not usually 

 break into such dense masses of verdure as 

 those of the maples, the horse-chestnuts, 

 and the hickories. Fig. 113 shows a re- 

 markably pretty specimen of a whitewood, 

 about twenty years old, and gives the forms 

 of the leaves, flowers, and seed-vessels. As 

 it becomes an old tree, the branches bend 

 in downward sweep, rising at their extrem- 

 ities, and tending somewhat to unequal 

 lengths, form an outline at once irregu- 

 lar and symmetrical, lofty and graceful. The play of light and 

 shade among the openings of its boughs is similar in expres- 

 sion to that which Loudon (as quoted on page 385) has char- 

 acterized in describing the foliage of the European plane tree ; 

 though that of the whitewood forms into somewhat more rounded 

 masses. The leaves burst their buds about a week later than 

 those of the sugar maple. They are from five to eight inches 

 in width, and of a peculiarly square form, as will be seen from 

 the above cut. In texture and color they are of that perfect type 



