Tuliptree

Scientific Name: Liriodendron tulipifera

Family: Magnoliaceae

Origin: Eastern US

Why is it called Tuliptree? It has leaves that are shaped like tulips.

Common Names: Tulip Tree, Tulip Poplar and Yellow Poplar

Mature Height: 70-100 feet

Mature Width/Spread: 40 feet

Leaves: Bright green leaves that resemble tulips! Leaves are 3 to 7 inches long with four triangular lobes.

In the fall, the leaves become: Bright yellow

Flowers? Yes. In May and June, tulip-shaped flowers 1 ½ – 2” in diameter with 6 greenish-yellow petals that have a small amount of orange at the base

Can you identify a Tuliptree by its bark? Yes. The bark has channels and depressions that look like they contain silver-white chalk dust.

Historical tidbit: George Washington planted Tuliptrees at Mount Vernon which are now 140 feet tall

Did you know …

Tuliptrees have also been called canoe trees because Native Americans used them to make canoes.
Daniel Boone made a 60 foot-long canoe from a Tuliptree that he rowed down the Ohio River with his family.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park has the greatest population of Tuliptrees greater than 20 feet in circumference.
The Tuliptree is the state tree of Kentucky.

Sources

https://www.virtualblueridge.com/nature/tulip-poplar/

http://www.hort.cornell.edu/bjorkman/lab/arboretum/trees/l_tulipifera.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liriodendron_tulipifera

https://www.arborday.org/trees/treeguide/treedetail.cfm?itemID=930

https://www.hunker.com/12212749/tulip-tree-facts

https://www.uky.edu/hort/Tulip-Poplar

Photo Credit

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

Photos courtesy of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Tree species information from http://forestry.ohiodnr.gov/trees

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

PAGE INFORMATION WAS COMPILED AS PART OF NOAH WERNING’S 2020 EAGLE SCOUT PROJECT.