TULIP-TREE 



Unfolding Leaves of Tulip-tree. 



properly called magnificent, for it rises to the height of one 

 hundred and ninety feet. The Tulip-tree, however, standing 

 alone attains its finest 

 development. The 

 trunk rises like a Co- 

 rinthian column, tall 

 and slender, the 

 branches come out 

 symmetrically, and the 

 whole contour of the 

 tree, though somewhat 

 formal, possesses a cer- 

 tain stately elegance. 



The leaves are of 

 unusual shape and de- 

 velop in a most pe- 

 culiar and character- 

 istic manner. The leaf-buds are composed of scales as is 

 usual, and these scales grow with the growing shoot. In 

 this respect the buds do not differ from those of many other 

 trees, but what is peculiar is that each pair of scales devel- 

 ops so as to form an oval en- 

 velop which contains the young 

 leaf and protects it against 

 changing temperatures until it 

 is strong enough to sustain 

 them without injury. When it 

 has reached that stage the 

 bracts separate, the tiny leaf 

 comes out carefully folded 

 along the line of the midrib, 

 opens as it matures, and until 

 it becomes full grown the 

 bracts do duty as stipules, be- 

 coming an inch or more in 

 length before they fall. The leaf is unique in shape, its apex 

 is cut off at the end in a way peculiarly its own, the petioles 



17 



Flower of Tulip-tree. 



