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.