Liriodendron tuliperifera

COMMON NAME: Tulip Tree; Tulip Poplar; Yellow Poplar; Tulip Magnolia; Whitewood

FAMILY: Magnoliaceae

GROWTH HABIT: Large trees with a long, straight trunk and oblong crown.

FOLIAGE: Alternate, simple, deciduous. four lobed, or sometimes with an extra pair of lobes at the base. 3 1/2 - 6 in. high and 4 - 6 1/2 in. wide. margin smooth. leaf nearly flat across bottom. top two lobes separated by a widely and shallowly v-shaped sinus. usually glabrous. Petiole slender, 3 - 6 in. long. The first native tree to leaf out in the spring. Early color bright yellow-green. autumn color; yellow, early in the season.

BUDS: winter buds flattened, shaped like ducks' bills.

BARK: On young trees bark thin, gray and nearly smooth. Becoming, evenly and shallowly furrowed with age. Light brown or gray.

FLOWERS: In May. 1 1/2 - 2 in. high, tulip-shaped, with six petals, and three down-curved sepals. Petals are greenish at the top with a broad orange band near the base. many yellow stamens arranged around a yellowing cone in the center of the blossom.

FRUIT: A brown, erect, cone-like aggregate of samaras, 2 1/2 - 3 in. high. In the fall the winged samaras break free and fall to the ground. the central cone-like axis often remains on the tree through the winter.

NATIVE HABITAT: Massachusetts to Wisconsin and south to Florida and Louisiana.