YELLOW POPLAR: TULIP-TREE: 



Liriodendron tulipifera 



THIS valuable tree is generally called Yellow Poplar, or, 

 less frequently, Tulip-tree. The latter is the most appro- 

 priate name, for it is not a Poplar at all. It is one of the 

 only two remaining representatives of many species which 

 grew in long-past geologic times.. One of these is indigen- 

 ous to this country and the other to China. Notwithstand- 

 ing that it is burdened with fifteen different names, un- 

 meaning and foolish, it is generally known in the lumber 

 trade as Yellow Poplar. In some localities, however, the 

 heartwood is nearly white and softer than in other regions, 

 and to distinguish such from lumber generally cut from 

 the tree, it is designated as White Poplar, or, more fre- 

 quently, White wood. Just why the heartwood is nearly 

 white in some localities and light yellow in others is not well 

 understood ; but it probably arises from a difference in soil 

 or climatic conditions, as there is but the one species here. 



A line bounding its natural range runs from Massachu- 

 setts west to southern Illinois, thence south to eastern Ar- 

 kansas and western Mississippi to near the Gulf of Mexico, 

 from there to southern Georgia and along the Atlantic Coast 

 to Massachusetts. It is the most abundant and of the best 

 development in the valleys tributary to the Ohio River, 

 and on the slopes of the mountains in North Carolina, 

 Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Virginias. At their best 

 Tulip-trees have been found ten feet in diameter and one 

 hundred and forty feet high. Trees from three to five feet 

 in diameter are not at all exceptional in virgin forests. It 

 is not found in pure stands, but is mingled with other 

 broadleaf trees, seldom among Pines and Hemlock. 



It is decidedly light-demanding, and when grown crowded 

 will push up a smooth, straight, moderately tapering stem, 



