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Cornell Junior Extension Bulletin 2b 



36. YELLOW POPLAR 



Tulip Tree, Tulip Poplar, Whitewood 



( TAriodendron tulipifera Linnaeus) 



Yellow poplar is one of our most distinctive and attractive trees. It 



is native from Saratoga and Rensselaer Counties westward along Lake 



Ontario to Lake Erie, and becomes more abundanl southward in deep, 



3TELLOW POPLAB 



Flower, fruit, and leaf, one-half natural size; twig, two- 

 thirds natural size 



rich, moist soils. Its large tulip-like, greenish yellow flowers have given 

 rise to the name "tulip tree." The wood is Light, soft, brittle, not 

 strong, straight-grained, light yellow or brown in color, and is largely 

 made into lumber and used where a soft, easily worked wood is required. 



Bark — on young trees, smooth, ashy gray or brown in color ; on older 

 trunks, light gray to brown in color, thick, distinctly and regularly fur- 

 rowed and ridged. 



Twigs — smooth, shiny, rather stout, reddish brown in color, often 

 branching the first year, aromatic odor, very bitter taste. 



Winter buds — terminal hud smooth, flattened, about y± inch long, sim- 

 ple, blunt, covered by two reddish brown bud scales giving the appear- 

 ance of a mitten; lateral buds similar but much smaller. 



Leaves — alternate, simple, from 4 to (> inches long, almosl square in 

 outline, usually 2- or 4-lobed with the tip appearing to be cut off; the 

 most distinctive and unusual leaf of any of our native forest trees. 



Fruit — a cone, light brown in color, upright, pointed, from 2 to 3 

 inches long. Seeds — long winged, ripening in September, and for the 

 most part falling soon after; outer ring of winged seeds may stay on the 

 tree into the next season. 



