III. 



LIRlODE'lSDRON. 37 



vary in their shades of colour, and any desirable variation may be perpe- 

 tuated by propagating the plant possessing it by layers or inarching. 



46. Liritxtendron Tuliptfera. 



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 they finally full off'. The flowers, which are large, bril- 

 liant, and on detached trees very numerous, are variegated with different 

 colours, among which yellow predominates ; they have an agrpeable odour, and, 

 surrounded by the luxuriant foliage, they produce a fine effect The fruit is 

 composed of a great number of thin narrow scales, attached to a common axis, 

 and forming a conical spike 2 or 3 inches in length. Each fruit contains 60 or 

 70 carpels; of which never more than a third, and, in some seasons, not more 

 than seven or eight in the whole number, are matured. It is also observed, 

 that, during ten years after it begins to yield fruit, almost all the seeds are un- 

 productive i and that, on large trees, the seeds from the highest branches are 

 the best. The heart, or perfect, wood of the tulip tree is yellow, approaching 

 to a lemon colour ; and its sap, or alburnum, is white. The annual shoots of 

 young plants, in the neighbourhood of London, are from 18 in. to 2ft. in 

 length ; and the tree will, in favourable circumstances, attain the height of 

 from 15 ft. to 20 ft. in ten years ; seldom, however, flowering till it is upwards 

 of twenty years old. The height, in England, frequently exceeds 70 ft. ; and 

 it has ripened seeds here, occasionally, from which young plants have been 

 raised. It ripens its fruit very generally in France ; though it is observed, in 

 the Nouveau Du Hawd, that these seeds do not vegetate so freely as those 

 which are imported from America. Deep, loamy, good soil best suits the 

 tulip tree ; and the situation most favourable is one which, while it is sheltered 

 from high winds, is, at the same time, sufficiently exposed to the light and air 

 to admit of the maturation of its leaves on every side, and the perfect ripening 

 of its wood, without which it can neither resist the severe frosts of winter, 

 nor form blossom buds. The species is seldom, if ever, propagated otherwise 

 than by seeds, which come up best in heath soil, very fine mould, or sandy 

 loam, in a shady situation, kept rather moist ; but the varieties are multiplied 

 by layers or inarching. When the seeds are sown in autumn, they generally 

 come up the following spring ; but, sown in spring or the beginning of summer, 

 they generally remain a year in the ground. The tulip tree, like the magnolias, 

 having roots furnished with but few fibres, does not transplant readily ; and, 

 therefore, the plants ought either to be kept in pots, or, if in the free ground, 

 transplanted in the nursery every year ; or, if neither of these modes be prac- 

 ticable, removed to their final situation, when not more than two, or at most 

 three, years old. The tree is, like the magnolias, not very patient of the knife, 

 either in a young or in an old state ; and, from the bitter qualities of the 



D 3 



