24 



AMERICAN MEDICINAL BARKS. 



Fig. 



Habitat and range. — The tulip-poplar, which occurs in rich woods, attains its 



greatest size in the Middle and Southern States ; its range extends from New Eng- 

 land to Florida, westward to Michigan 

 and Arkansas. It is also cultivated. 



Description of tree. — This most hand- 

 some native forest tree, a member of 

 the magnolia family (Magnoliacese), 

 is readily distinguished by its some- 

 what peculiarly shaped leaves, and in 

 spring by its greenish yellow tulip- 

 shaped flowers. It attains great 

 height, from 60 to 190 feet, and is 

 very symmetrical in shape, with a 

 straight, cylindrical trunk covered 

 with grayish brown bark which in 

 young trees is smooth, but becoming 

 rough and fissured as the tree grows 

 older ( fig. IS ) . The leaves are smooth, 

 generally rounded at the base, the top 

 notched, or appearing as though cut 

 straight across. They are roundish in 

 outline or broadly oval, from 3 to 6 

 inches long, and have two to four lobes 

 at the base and two at the top, the 

 margins between the lobes rounded 

 out, the base rounded or abruptly 

 obtuse. (Fig. 19.) 

 and although they are quite large — 



about 2 inches long — they are not very conspicuous for the reason that their 



colors so blend with the yellow-green 



foliage of early spring that they pass 



almost unnoticed. On examining these 



flowers more closely they will be 



found to resemble tulips in form, 



with a very modest coloring, however. 



of green with a slight orange tinge 



toward the base of the petals, and the 



inside of the flower orange colored. 



The flowers have six petals and three 



reflexed petal-like sepals, and numer- 

 ous stamens. The fruit ripens in the 



form of a dry, pointed cone, about 3 



inches in length. (Fig. 19.) 



Description of bark. — The bark of 



both trunk and root, deprived of the 



outer layer, is used medicinally, and 



the tulip-poplar, or, as it is most 



frequently called in the drug trade, 



yellow poplar, or Liriodendron, was 



official in the United States Pharma- 

 copoeia from 1S20 to 1880. It consists 



of slab-like pieces 3 or 4 inches long, very light, the outside as well as the inside 



of the inner bark yellowish white. When broken the fracture is ragged, splintery, 

 139 



18. — Tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tulipi- 

 fera), trunk. 



The erect flowers appear in spring 



Fig. 19. — Tulip-poplar (Liriodendron tuUpi- 

 fera i , leaves, flowers, and fruit. 



