Liriodendron tulipifera—known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tulipwood, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddletree, lynn-tree, hickory-poplar, and yellow-poplar—is the North American representative of the two-species genus Liriodendron (the other member is Liriodendron chinense). It is native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario and possibly southern Quebec to west to Illinois, and east to southwestern Massachusetts, then south to central Florida and Louisiana.
The tulip tree is the tallest tree of the temperate deciduous forest.
This species is also fast-growing, without the common problems of weak wood strength and short lifespan often seen in fast-growing species. In 2024 the unusual combination of fast-growing with strong wood was explained. No longer called a hardwood, the term "midwood" was created expressly for the wood of tulip tree.
The tulip tree is the state tree of Indiana, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Description
The tulip tree is one of the largest of the native trees of eastern North America, known in an extraordinary case to reach the height of
with the next-tallest known specimens in the range.
[ Tallest Native Trees of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as Determined by the Eastern Native Tree Society (updated through 2004)] These heights are comparable to the very tallest known eastern white pines, another species often described as the tallest in eastern North America.
The trunk on large examples is typically in diameter, though it can grow much broader. Its ordinary height is and it tends to have a pyramidal crown.
The bark is brown, furrowed, aromatic and bitter. The branchlets are smooth, and lustrous, initially reddish, maturing to dark gray, and finally brown. The wood is light yellow to brown, and the sapwood creamy white; light, soft, brittle, close, straight-grained. Specific gravity: 0.4230; density: .
Winter buds are dark red, covered with a bloom, obtuse; scales becoming conspicuous stipules for the unfolding leaf, and persistent until the leaf is fully grown. Flower-bud enclosed in a two-valved, caducous bract.
The alternate leaves are simple, pinnately veined, measuring long and wide. They have four lobes, and are heart-shaped or truncate or slightly wedge-shaped at base, entire, and the apex cut across at a shallow angle, making the upper part of the leaf look square; midrib and primary veins prominent. They come out of the bud recurved by the bending down of the petiole near the middle bringing the apex of the folded leaf to the base of the bud, light green, when full grown are bright green, smooth and shining above, paler green beneath, with downy veins. In autumn they turn a clear, bright yellow. Petiole long, slender, angled.
April marks the start of the flowering period in the Southern United States (except as noted below); trees at the northern limit of cultivation begin to flower in June. The flowers are pale green or yellow (rarely white), with an orange band on the tepals; they yield large quantities of nectar.
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Flowers: May. Perfect, solitary, terminal, greenish yellow, borne on stout peduncles, long, cup-shaped, erect, conspicuous. The bud is enclosed in a sheath of two triangular bracts which fall as the blossom opens.
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Calyx: Sepals three, imbricate in bud, reflexed or spreading, somewhat veined, early deciduous.
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Corolla: Cup-shaped, petals six, long, in two rows, imbricate, hypogynous, greenish yellow, marked toward the base with yellow. Somewhat fleshy in texture.
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Stamens: Indefinite, imbricate in many ranks on the base of the receptacle; filaments thread-like, short; anthers extrorse, long, two-celled, adnate; cells opening longitudinally.
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Pistils: Indefinite, imbricate on the long slender receptacle. Ovary one-celled; style acuminate, flattened; stigma short, one-sided, recurved; ovules two.
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Fruit: Narrow light brown cone, formed from many overlapping samaras which are dispersed by wind, leaving the axis persistent all winter. September, October.
Harriet Louise Keeler provided a description of the tulip tree in Our Native Trees and How to Identify Them.
Gallery
File:Liriodendron tulipifera tulip close.jpg|Tulip-like flower
File:Plodovi Liriodendron tulipifera.jpg|Golden autumn leaves and seed cones
File:Liriodendron-tulipifera-bud.jpg|Large gray-green flower bud with yellow bract
File:Liriodendron tulipifera MHNT.BOT.2004.0.jpg|Seeds
File:Liriodendron tulipifera folded new leaves.jpg|Unfolding leaves
File:Tulip Tree Leaf-vector.svg|Lobed leaf
File:Liriodendron aureomarginata.jpg|Leaves of cultivar 'Aureomarginatum'
File:Liriodendron tulipifera Integrifolium leaf front.JPG|Leaf of cultivar "Integrifolium"
File:Liriodendron tulipifera columnar trunk.JPG|Columnar trunk in streambank woods
File:Tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) fruit in early spring 06.jpg|Fruit
File:Imperial-moth-camouflaged-with-leaf.jpg|Imperial moth camouflaged on leaf
File:Tulip Tree NBG LR.jpg|Leaf
File:Freshly split poplar.jpg|alt=dark mark along the grain|Mineral stain in fresh-split wood
Taxonomy
Originally described by
Carl Linnaeus,
Liriodendron tulipifera is one of two species (see also
L. chinense) in the genus
Liriodendron in the magnolia family. The name
Liriodendron is Greek for "lily tree".
It is also called the tuliptree Magnolia, or sometimes, by the lumber industry, as the tulip-poplar or yellow-poplar. However, it is not closely related to true
lilium,
tulips or
populus.
The tulip tree has impressed itself upon popular attention in many ways, and consequently has many common names. The tree's traditional name in the Miami-Illinois language is oonseentia. Native Americans so habitually made their of its trunk that the early settlers west of the Appalachian Mountains called it Canoewood. The color of its wood gives it the name Whitewood. In areas near the Mississippi River it is called a Populus largely because of the fluttering habits of its leaves, in which it resembles trees of that genus. It is sometimes called "fiddle tree," because its peculiar leaves, with their arched bases and in-cut sides, suggest the violin shape.
The external resemblance of its flowers to named it the Tulip-tree.
Distribution and habitat
In the
Cretaceous age the genus was represented by several species, and was widely distributed over North America and Europe. Its remains are also found in
Tertiary period rocks.
Today the tulip tree is one of the largest and most valuable hardwoods of eastern North America, thriving in temperate deciduous forests east of the Mississippi River. It prefers mesic to moist, well-drained soils and is generally most common at low to mid-elevations, for example usually not found above 3000 ft (900m) elevation in Virginia.[Fetter, K. C., & Weakley, A. (2019). Reduced Gene Flow from Mainland Populations of Liriodendron tulipifera into the Florida Peninsula Promotes Diversification. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 180(3), 253–269. ]
It is native southern Ontario and northern Ohio south to the Gulf of Mexico and from extreme southern New York and Connecticut south to Louisiana and northern Florida.["Tulip tree." McGraw-Hill Concise Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2006. Credo Reference. Web. 26 September 2012.] It extends south to north Florida, and has few natural populations west of the Mississippi River, but beyond its native areas it is found occasionally as ornamentals or escapes. Its finest development is in the Southern Appalachian mountains, where trees may exceed in height. It was introduced into Great Britain before 1688 in Bishop Compton's garden at Fulham Palace and is now a popular ornamental in streets, parks, and large gardens.
East Central Florida ecotype
Parts of east-central
Florida near Orlando have an ecotype with similar-looking leaves to the coastal plain variant of the Carolinas; it flowers much earlier (usually in March, although flowering can begin in late January), with a smaller yellower bloom than other types. This east central Florida ecotype/Peninsular allozyme group seems to have the best ability to tolerate very wet conditions, where it may grow short pencil-like root structures (pneumatophores) similar to those produced by other swamp trees in warm climates. Superior resistance to drought, pests and wind is also noted. Some individuals retain their leaves all year unless a hard frost strikes. Places where it may be seen include Dr. Howard A. Kelly Park, Lake Eola Park, Spring Hammock Preserve, Big Tree Park and the University of Central Florida Arboretum.
Ecology
Liriodendron tulipifera is generally considered to be a
shade tolerance species that is most commonly associated with the first century of forest succession. In Appalachian forests, it is a dominant species during the 50–150 years of succession, but is absent or rare in stands of trees 500 years or older. One particular group of trees survived in the grounds of Orlagh College, Dublin for 200 years, before having to be cut down in 1990.
['Knocklyn Past and Present', p. 33] On
mesic habitat, fertile soils, it often forms pure or nearly pure stands. It can and does persist in older forests when there is sufficient disturbance to generate large enough gaps for regeneration.
Individual trees have been known to live for up to around 500 years.
All young tulip trees and most mature specimens are intolerant of prolonged inundation; however, a coastal plain swamp ecotype in the southeastern United States is relatively flood-tolerant.
Vines, especially Vitis, are known to be extremely damaging to young trees of this species. Vines are damaging both due to blocking out sunlight, and increasing weight on limbs which can lead to bending of the trunk and/or breaking of limbs.
Host plant
In terms of its role in the ecological community,
L. tulipifera does not host a great diversity of insects, with only 28 species of moths associated with the tree.
Among specialists,
L. tulipifera is the sole host plant for the caterpillars of
C. angulifera, a giant silkmoth found in the eastern United States.
Several generalist species use
L. tulipifera. It is a well-known host for the large, green eggs of the
Papilio glaucus, the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly, which are known to lay their eggs exclusively among plants in the magnolia and rose families of plants, primarily in mid-late June through early August, in some states.
Notable specimens
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The tallest individual at the present time (2021) is one called the Fork Ridge Tulip Tree at a secret location in the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Repeated measurements by laser and tape-drop have shown it to be in height.
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Walt Whitman in 1879 described a tulip tree near Woodstown, NJ whose trunk was 20 feet around with a cavity large enough so that, 25 years prior, 9 men ate dinner inside. Whitman assumed that by that time, in 1879, 12 to 15 men could stand within it.
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The Queens Giant is a tulip tree that is the oldest living thing in the New York Metropolitan area at 350–450 years old ( tall).
Use
Liriodendron tulipifera is cultivated, and grows readily from seeds. These should be sown in fine soft soil in a cool and shady area. If sown in autumn they come up the succeeding spring, but if sown in spring they often remain a year in the ground. John Loudon noted that seeds from the highest branches of old trees are most likely to germinate. It is readily propagated from cuttings and easily transplanted.
In landscape
Tulip trees make magnificently shaped specimen trees, and are very large, growing to about in good soil. They grow best in deep well-drained
loam which has thick dark
topsoil. They show stronger response to fertilizer compounds (those with low salt index are preferred) than most other trees, but soil structure and organic matter content are more important. In the wild it is occasionally seen around
Serpentine group outcrops.
The southeastern coastal plain and east central Florida ecotypes occur in wet but
not stagnant soils which are high in organic matter. All tulip trees are unreliable in clay flats which are subject to ponding and flooding.
Like other members of the Magnoliaceae family, they have fleshy roots that are easily broken if handled roughly. Transplanting should be done in early spring, before leaf-out; this timing is especially important in the more northern areas. Fall planting is often successful in Florida. The east central Florida ecotype may be more easily moved than other strains because its roots grow over nine or ten months every year—several months longer than other ecotypes. Most tulip trees have low tolerance of drought, although Florida natives (especially the east central ecotype) fare better than southeastern coastal plain or northern inland specimens.
It is recommended as a shade tree.
Cultivars
Source:
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'Ardis' – dwarf, with smaller leaves than wild form. Leaves shallow-lobed, some without lower lobes.
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'Arnold' – narrow, columnar crown; may flower at early age.
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'Aureomarginatum' – variegated form with pale-edged leaves; sold as 'Flashlight' or 'Majestic Beauty'.
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'Fastigatum' – similar form to 'Arnold' but flowers at later age.
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'Florida Strain' – blunt-lobed leaves, fast grower, flowers at early age.
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'Integrifolium' – leaves without lower lobes.
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'JFS-Oz' – compact oval form with straight leader, leaves dark and glossy; sold as 'Emerald City.'
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'Leucanthum' – flowers white or nearly white.
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'Little Volunteer' – almost as diminutive as 'Ardis' but with stronger form. Leaves more deeply lobed than 'Ardis.'
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'Mediopictum' – variegated form with yellow spot near center of leaf.
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'Roothaan' – blunt-lobed leaves.
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'Snow Bird' - variegated, with white-edged leaves.
In the United Kingdom the species
Liriodendron tulipifera has been introduced to many temperate parts of the world, at least as far north as Sykkylven, Norway and Arboretum Mustila, Finland.
It is occasionally cultivated in tropical highlands, as in Costa Rica and Colombia. In the latter nation it is a street tree at Bogotá.
Honey
Nectar is produced in the orange part of the flowers. The species is a significant honey plant in the eastern United States, yielding a dark reddish, fairly strong honey unsuitable for table honey but claimed to be favorably regarded by some bakers
One 20-year-old tree produces enough nectar for of honey.
Wood
Though not a poplar at all, the soft, fine-grained wood of tulip trees is known by that name (short for yellow poplar) in the U.S., but marketed abroad as "American tulipwood" or by other names. It is very widely used where a cheap, easy-to-work and stable wood is needed. The
Heartwood is usually a creamy off-white color. While the heartwood is usually a pale green, it can take on streaks of red, purple, or even black; depending on the extractives content (i.e. the soil conditions where the tree was grown, etc.). It is clearly the wood of choice for use in organs, due to its ability to take a fine, smooth, precisely cut finish and so to effectively seal against
organ pipe and
. It is also commonly used for siding clapboards. Its wood may be compared in texture, strength, and softness to white pine.
Used for interior finish of houses, for siding, for panels of carriages, for coffin boxes, pattern timber, and wooden ware. During scarcity of the better qualities of white pine, tulip wood has taken its place to some extent, particularly when very wide boards are required.
It also has a reputation for being resistant to termites, and in the Upland South (and perhaps elsewhere) house and barn sills were often made of tulip wood beams.
Tulip poplar wood is one of the favorites for wood carvers Wilhelm Schimmel and Shields Landon Jones.["SCHIMMEL, WILHELM (1817–1890)." The Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. London: Routledge, 2003. Credo Reference. Web. 26 September 2012.]["JONES, SHIELDS LANDON (1901–1997)." The Encyclopedia of American Folk Art. London: Routledge, 2003. Credo Reference. Web. 26 September 2012.]
In science
Tulip tree leaf litter has been the substrate of choice for a number of microbial ecology studies, particularly those investigating an aquatic priming effect. The leaves have a relatively low
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In popular culture
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The tulip tree is a plot element in Edgar Allan Poe's short story "The Gold-Bug" (1843).
[ "The Gold-Bug" – Full text from the Dollar Newspaper, 1843 (with two illustrations by F. O. C. Darley)]
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Walt Whitman observed in 1876-77 a 70 foot tall tulip tree and how "from top to bottom, seeking the sweet juice in the blossoms, it swarms with myriads of these wild bees, whose loud and steady humming makes an undertone to the whole." He referred to the tulip tree as "the Apollo of the woods — tall and graceful, yet robust and sinewy, inimitable in hang of foliage and throwing-out of limb ; as if the beauteous, vital, leafy creature could walk, if it only would."
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The tulip tree has been referenced in many poems and the namesakes of other poems, such as William Stafford's "Tulip Tree" (1964).
[Stafford, William. Stories That Could Be True. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. Print.]
Notes
Further reading
External links
