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- Unfolding Leaves of Tulip-tree. 
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 endgn a way peculiarly its own, the petioles 
17 
Flower of Tulip-tree. 
