YELLOW POPLAE. 39 



Seed is produced, nearly every year and young seedlings are 

 abundant in the woods. Cattle are very fond of the young plants. 

 Old trees are apt to be hollow at the butt and not uncommonly 

 throughout the trunk. 



The large leaves, which are crowded at the end of the branch- 

 lets, are smooth, glossy, pointed at the apex and eared at the base. 

 When fully expanded the beautiful cream-colored flowers often 

 measure 8 or 9 inches across. The bright rose-colored fruit is 

 oblong, 4 to 5 inches in length and 1£ to 2 inches broad. The 

 large winter-buds are purple. 



The wood is light, soft, weak, close-grained ; light brown in 

 color ; the thick sapwood creamy-white. It has no commercial 

 value. 



Liriodendron tulipifera, Linnaeus. 



(yellow poplar, tulip tree, whitewood.) 



A large tree of the first commercial value, with a small pyram- 

 idal head and brownish-gray bark, reaching a height of 190 and a 

 diameter of 10 feet. The trunk is straight and cylindrical, and in 

 the largest specimens often free from branches to a height of from 

 80 to 100 feet. (Plate II.) 



It occurs from Rhode Island to southwestern Vermont, west to 

 the southern shores of Lake' Michigan, and south to northern 

 Florida, southern Alabama and Mississippi, and southeastern Mis- 

 souri and the adjacent parts of Arkansas; reaching its best devel- 

 opment on the tributaries of the Ohio and the lower slopes of the 

 high mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. It grows 

 habitually in deep, rich, moist soil. Although widely distributed, 

 it is seldom the predominant tree in the forest. 



In North Carolina, where it reaches an average height of 60 to 

 100, and an average diameter of 3 to 4 feet, it is found in all parts 

 of the State. (Fig- 4, p. 40.) In the coastal plain it occurs on 

 fertile soil with sweet gum, black gum, swamp chestnut oak, and 

 water oak, or on peaty foil with the white cedar (juniper).* 

 Throughout this section the trees are apt to be hollow ; there is a 

 larger amount of sapwood, and the timber is inferior in quality to 

 that in the middle and western sections. In the Piedmont pla- 

 *Charasecyparis thyotdes, L. 



