TULIP-BEARING LIRIODENDRON. 25 
imbricated, which in spring are distended by the growth of the minute bundle of 
leaves that they enclose, till they finally fall off. The terminal bud of each 
shoot swells considerably before it gives birth to the leaf. It forms an oval en- 
velope, containing the young leaf, which is produced to the light as soon as it 
has acquired sufficient strength 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 the envelope, and 
which are now called stipules. In spring, when the weather is warm and 
humid, the growth of the leaves is very rapid. They are six or eight inches 
broad, borne on long petioles, alternate, somewhat fleshy, smooth, and of a pleas- 
ing green colour. They are divided into three lobes, of which the middle one is 
horizontally notched at its summit, and the two lower ones rounded at the 
base. This conformation is peculiar to this tree, and thereby renders it distin- 
guishable from all others. In Carolina and Georgia the flowers appear in April 
and May, and in the northern parts of the United States, in June and July. On 
detached trees, they are large, brilliant, very numerous, and variegated with dif- 
ferent colours, among which, yellow predominates. They have an agreeable 
odour, and, surrounded by the luxuriant foliage, they produce a fine effect 
The fruit is composed of numerous thin, narrow scales, attached to a common 
axis, and forming a conical spike, two or three inches in length. Each spike or 
fruit contains sixty or seventy carpels, of which, never more than a third, and 
in some seasons, not more than seven or eight in the whole number are produc- 
tive. It is also observed, that during ten years after it begins to yield fruit, 
nearly all the seeds, when sown, prove abortive ; and that, on large trees, the 
seeds from the highest branches are the best. 
Varieties. The Liriodendron tulipifera comprises three varieties, which may 
be regarded as distinct from the species. 
1. L. t. obtusiloba, Loudon. Blunt-leaved Tulip-tree, with blunter leaves 
than the original, but in no other respect different from it. 
2. L. t. acutifolia, Loudon. Acute-leaved Tidip-tree, with leaves smaller and 
more acutely cut than either the preceding variety or the species. 
3. L. t. flava, Loudon. Yellow -flowered Tulip-tree, very rare. 
Geography and History. The southern extremity of Lake Champlain, accord- 
ing to Michaux, may be considered in its natural distribution, as the northern, 
and the river Connecticut as the eastern limit of this tree. It is only westerly of 
the Hudson, and southerly of the forty-third degree of latitude, that it is fre- 
quently met with, and fully developed. It is multiplied in the middle states, in 
the upper parts of Carolina and Georgia, and still more abundantly in the west- 
ern states, particularly in Kentucky, where it displays its most powerful vegeta- 
tion. Its comparative rareness in the maritime parts of the Carolinas and of 
Georgia, in the Floridas, and in lower Louisiana, is owing less to the heat of 
summer than to the nature of the soil, which, in some parts, is too dry, as. in the 
pine-barrens, and in others too wet, as in the swamps which border the rivers. 
It is commonly found mingled with other trees, such as the hickories, the black- 
walnut, and butternut, the Kentucky coffee-tree, (Gymnocladus canadensis,) and 
the wild cherry-tree ; but it sometimes constitutes, alone, considerable tracts of 
the forest, as was observed by the elder Michaux, on the road from Beardstone 
to Louisville, in Kentucky. The artificial geography of this tree may be said 
to embrace the middle region of Europe, from Berlin and Warsaw, on the north, 
to the shores of the Mediterranean and Naples, on the south ; Ireland on the 
west, and Crimea on the east. It is successfully cultivated along the maritime 
parts of the United States, from Newburyport, in Massachusetts, to St. Mary's, 
in Georgia. 4 
