CHAP. III. 



MAGNOL7./ CEM. LIRIODe'n DRON. 



285 



Spec. Char. Leaves smooth, truncate at the top ; 4-lobecl, resembUng a 

 aaddle in shape. Flowers large, solitary, terminal, variegated with green, 

 yellow, and orange colour; furnished with two deciduous bracteas under 

 flowers. {Don's Mill., i. p. 86.) 



Varieties. 



^ L. T. 2 obtusiloba Michx., integrifolia Hort., the obtuse-lohed, or 

 entire-leaved, Tidvp Tree, Yellow Wood, or Yellow Poplar, has the 

 leaves with blunter lobes than the original species, but is in no 

 other respect different from it. See the plate of this tree in our 

 Second Volume. 



i Z/. r. 3 acidifoUa Michx. has the leaves smaller and more acutely cut 

 , than either the preceding variety or the species. We are not aware 

 of any plants of it existing in British gardens. 

 *t L. T". 4 flam Hort. has yellow flowers. As most of the tulip trees in 

 Europe have been raised from seeds, it is probable that their flow- 

 ers vary in degrees of yellowness ; but we are not aware that any 

 variety, with the flowers entirely yellow, is propagated in British 

 nurseries. It is, however, in the catalogue of the. garden at Cour- 

 set, and in some of the Paris catalogues. 

 Description. This tree, in the Atlantic states of North America, accord- 

 ing to Michaux, especially at a considerable distance from the sea, is often 

 seen from 70 ft. to 100 ft. in height, with a trunk the diameter of which 

 varies from 18 in. to 3 ft. The elder Michaux found in Kentucky, on the 

 road from Beardstone to Louisville, tulip trees which appeared to be 15 ft. or 

 16 ft. in circumference ; and, three miles and a half from Louisville, he mea- 

 sured one which, at .5 ft. from the gi-ound, was 22 ft, 6 in. in circumference, 

 the height of which he found to be from 120 ft. to 140 ft. Of all the deci- 

 duous Irees of North America, the tulip tree, next to the button-wood 

 (Platanus occidentalis), attains the amplest dimensions; while the perfect 

 straightness and uniform diameter of its trunk for upwards of 40 ft., the 

 I'egular distribution of its branches, and the richness of its foliage, give it a 

 decided superiority to that tree, and entitle it to be considered one of the 

 most magnificent trees of the temperate zones. In the developement of its 

 leaves the tulip tree differs from most other trees. The leaf-buds, in general, 

 are composed of scales closely imbricated, which, in the spring, are distended 

 by the growth of the minute bundle of leaves that they enclose, till they 

 finally fall off. The terminal bud of each shoot swells considerably before it 

 gives birth to the leaf : it forms an oval envelope, which contains the young 

 leaf, and which produces it to the light only when it appears to have acquired 

 sufficient force to endure the influences of the atmosphere. Within this 

 envelope is found another, which, after the first leaf is put forth, swells, 

 ljursts, and gives birth to a second. On young and vigorous trees five or six 

 leaves issue, successively, in this manner, from one bud. Till the leaf has 

 acquired its growth, it retains the two scales which composed its envelope, 

 and which are now called stipules. In the spring, when the weather is warm 

 and humid, the growth of the leaves is very rapid : they are 6 in. or 8 in. 

 broad, borne on long petioles, alternate, somewhat fleshy, smooth, and of a 

 pleasing green colour. They are divided into three lobes; of which the 

 middle one is horizontally notched at its summit, and the two lower ones are 

 rounded at the base. This conformation is pecuhar to the tulip tree, and 

 I'enders it easily distinguishable in the summer. The flowers, which are 

 large, brilliant, and, on detached trees, very numerous, are variegated with 

 diflerent colours, among which yellow predominates ; they have an agree- 

 able odour, and, surrounded by the luxuriant foliage, they produce a fine 

 effect. In the spring they are gathered by women and children in the neigh- 

 bourhood of New York, and sold in the market of that city. The fruit is 

 composed of a great number of thin narrow scales, attached to a common 

 axis, and forming a conical spike 2 in. or 3 in. in length. Each fruit contains 

 60 or 70 carpels ; of which never more than a third, and in some seasons not 



