TULIP TREE. 



[122] 



Family: MAGNOLIA CEAE. 



Reproductive system: POLYANDRY, POLYGYNY. 



Upon his return from bis travels in America around the middle of the last century- 

 Admiral La Galissonniere presented France with the yellow tulip tree, Liriodendron 

 tulipifera, LINN., as well as with several other useful plants. At that time only a few 

 specimens were available. Only two of them have survived: one planted by Duhamel at 

 Monceau and one by M. de Cubieres at Versailles. But several years later the elegance 

 and greenery of the tree's foliage and the beauty and abundance of its flowers put it in 

 great demand, and today it's very widespread. It's claimed that in its native country it 

 grows to a hundred and thirty or forty feet in height, and the trunk attains a diameter of 

 three feet. The leaves are smooth, alternate and are divided into three lobes with the 

 middle one somewhat truncate. The flowers are located at the ends of the limbs and 

 branches. They are yellow tinged with red and have a pleasant fragrance. The calyx has 

 three deciduous sections. The corolla is bell-shaped and consists of six to nine petals. The 

 stamens are very numerous and are surmounted with anthers that open outward. The 

 ovaries also are extremely numerous and are superior. They change into the same number 

 of capsules with a 1 anceolate wing at their top, distended at their base, and containing one 

 or two seeds. They're arranged in a cone on a central axis. 



FLOWERS: in June. 



RANGE: Virginia and several other parts of North America. 

 NOMENCLATURE. German, der tulpenbaum. 



