64 The Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



LIRIODENDRON CHINENSE, Chinese Tulip Tree 



Uriodendron chirunse, Sargent, Trees and Shrubs, iii. 103, PI. Hi. (1903) ; Hemsley in Hook. Ic. PI. t. 



2785 (1905)- 

 Uriodendron chinense, Hemsley, Gard. Chron. 1903, p. 370. 

 Liriodetidron tulipifera, L., var. ? c/iinensis, Hemsley, _/<?/. Linn. Soc. xxiii. 25 (1886). 



The Chinese tulip tree was discovered by Shearer' and Maries" in the Lushan 

 mountains near Kiukiang, on the Yangtse, and was afterwards found by me growing 

 plentifully in the mountain woods both north and south of Ichang, in Hupeh, at 

 3000 to 6000 feet altitude. Von Rosthorn ^ found it farther west, at Nan-ch'uan 

 in Szechuan. It does not occur on the lower levels, and is essentially a tree of the 

 mountains bounding the valley of the Yangtse, from 107 to 116 E. longitude, and 

 from 29 to 32 N. latitude. I never saw any large specimens, and it does not attain, 

 so far as is known, the size of the American species. Von Rosthorn records it as 

 about 50 feet in height. Maries notes it as a fine spreading tree occurring at a 

 temple near Kiukiang. It was introduced in 1901 into cultivation from Hupeh by 

 Wilson, who collected for Messrs. Veitch ; and young trees may be seen in their 

 nursery at Coombe Wood, and also at Kew. These seedlings in January 1905 were 

 at Kew about 1 5 inches in height, and have stood without injury the cold of the last 

 few winters ; but it is too soon yet to decide whether this species will turn out 

 to be hardy in this climate. 



The Chinese tulip tree is almost indistinguishable in foliage from the American 

 tree, but as a rule the leaves are more glaucous on the under surface, and the 

 lobing is deeper and more obtuse. The flowers are greenish in colour and smaller 

 in size than those of Liriodendron tulipifera. Moreover, the narrow petals spread 

 out when fully open, and have not a tulip shape. The carpels are consolidated, so 

 as to appear like a solid column, and are obtuse at the apex when ripe. In the 

 American species the carpels are free from each other at an early stage, and have 

 when ripe acute recurved tips. 



In winter there is little to distinguish the two species, except that in 

 Liriodendron chinense the twigs are grey (not shining brown), the buds come off at 

 a very acute angle, and the leaf scars are oboval and not truly circular as they are in 

 the common species. 



The Chinese call the tree IVo-ck'ang-ch'iu, i.e. "goose-foot Catalpa," from the 

 shape of the leaves, but the tree is of no economic importance with them. It 

 apparently regenerates readily from the stool, as I found it, where the wood-cutters 

 had been at work, as strong coppice shoots with enormous leaves, more than a foot 

 across. 



' In 1875. See L. M. Moore m/our. Bot. 1875, p. 225. 

 * In 1878. See Hemsley in Gard. Chron. 1889, vi. 718. ' Diels, Flora von Central China, 322 (1901). 



