Derivations. The specific name is derived from the Latin tulipa, a tulip, and fero, to bear, on account of the resemblance the flowers of this tree bear to those of tulips. It is called Poplar, from its general appearance to trees of the genus Populus; White-wood, and Yellow Poplar, from the colour of its timber; Canoe wood, from the use to which it is applied by the native Indians; and Saddle-tree, from the form of its leaves. The French and German names are literal translations of Virginian Tulip-tree.

Engravings. Michaux, North American Sylva, pl. 61; Audubon, Birds of America, pl. xii.; Loudon, Arboretum Britanni. cum, v., pl. 13; and the figures below.

Specific Characters. Leaves smooth, truncate at the top; 4-lobed, resembling a saddle in shape. Flowers large, solitary, terminal, variegated with green, yellow, and orange colour; furnished with two deciduous bracteas under the flowers.-Don, Miller's Dict.

Description.

F all the deciduous trees of North America, the Tulip-tree, next to the sycamore, (Platanus occidentalis,) attains the amplest dimensions; while the perfect straightness and uniform diameter of the trunk, the more regular distribution of its branches, and the greater richness of its foliage and flowers, give it a decided superiority over that tree, and entitle it to be considered one of the most magnificent productions of the temperate zones. It usually attains a height of sixty or eighty feet, with a diameter varying from eighteen inches to three feet; although, in favourable localities, it has been known to arrive at a height of one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty feet, with a diameter of more than seven feet. The

bark of the trunk, till it exceeds seven or eight inches in diameter, is smooth and even; but afterwards it begins to crack, and the depth of the furrows is in proportion to the size and age of the tree. In the development of its leaves it differs from most other trees. The leaf-buds, in general, are composed of scales closely

imbricated, which in 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, containing the young leaf, which is produced to the light as soon as it has acquired sufficient strength to endure the influences of the atmosphere. Within this envelope is found another, which, after the first leaf is put forth, swells, bursts, 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 the envelope, and which are now called stipules. In spring, when the weather is warm and humid, the growth of the leaves is very rapid. They are six or eight inches 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 rounded at the base. This conformation is peculiar to this tree, and thereby renders it distinguishable from all others. In Carolina and Georgia the flowers appear in April and May, and in the northern parts of the United States, in June and July. detached trees, they are large, brilliant, very numerous, and variegated with different colours, among which, yellow predominates. They have an agreeable odour, and, surrounded by the luxuriant foliage, they produce a fine effect The fruit is composed of numerous thin, narrow scales, attached to a common axis, and forming a conical spike, two or three inches in length. Each spike or fruit contains sixty or seventy carpels, of which, never more than a third, and in some seasons, not more than seven or eight in the whole number are productive. It is also observed, that during ten years after it begins to yield fruit, nearly all the seeds, when sown, prove abortive; and that, on large trees, the seeds from the highest branches are the best.

On

Varieties. The Liriodendron tulipifera comprises three varieties, which may be regarded as distinct from the species.

1. L. T. OBTUSILOBA, Loudon. Blunt-leaved Tulip-tree, with blunter leaves than the original, but in no other respect different from it.

2. L. t. acutifolIA, Loudon. Acute-leaved Tulip-tree, with leaves smaller and more acutely cut than either the preceding variety or the species.

3. L. T. FLAVA, Loudon. Yellow-flowered Tulip-tree, very rare. Geography and History. The southern extremity of Lake Champlain, according to Michaux, may be considered in its natural distribution, as the northern, and the river Connecticut as the eastern limit of this tree. It is only westerly of the Hudson, and southerly of the forty-third degree of latitude, that it is frequently met with, and fully developed. It is multiplied in the middle states, in the upper parts of Carolina and Georgia, and still more abundantly in the western states, particularly in Kentucky, where it displays its most powerful vegetation. Its comparative rareness in the maritime parts of the Carolinas and of Georgia, in the Floridas, and in lower Louisiana, is owing less to the heat of summer than to the nature of the soil, which, in some parts, is too dry, as in the pine-barrens, and in others too wet, as in the swamps which border the rivers. It is commonly found mingled with other trees, such as the hickories, the blackwalnut, and butternut, the Kentucky coffee-tree, (Gymnocladus canadensis,) and the wild cherry-tree; but it sometimes constitutes, alone, considerable tracts of the forest, as was observed by the elder Michaux, on the road from Beardstone to Louisville, in Kentucky. The artificial geography of this tree may be said to embrace the middle region of Europe, from Berlin and Warsaw, on the north, to the shores of the Mediterranean and Naples, on the south; Ireland on the west, and Crimea on the east. It is successfully cultivated along the maritime parts of the United States, from Newburyport, in Massachusetts, to St. Mary's, in Georgia.

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The period at which the tulip-tree was first introduced into England is uncertain. The honour is said to have been conferred on the Earl of Norfolk, as far back as 1663. It is certain that it was cultivated by Dr. Henry Compton, at Fulham, in 1688, at which time it was wholly unknown as a timber-tree. According to Miller, Mr. Darley, at Hoxton, and Mr. Fairchild, were the first who raised this tree from seeds; and from their nurseries it is probable that the numerous old trees which are spread all over Britain were procured. The oldest tree in England, estimated at over one hundred and fifty years of age, is at Fulham palace. It is about fifty feet high, and its trunk, at one foot from the ground, is three feet in diameter. The largest tree in Britain is in Somersetshire, at Hestercombe, which is one hundred feet in height, with a trunk three feet in diameter, and ripens seeds every year.

The first notice which we have of the tulip-tree on the continent, is in the "Catalogue of the Leyden Garden," published in 1731. From the number of these trees existing in France, the south of Germany, and Italy, there can be little doubt it spread as rapidly in those countries as it did in Britain. Public avenues are planted of it in Italy, and as far north as Strasburg and Mentz. It stands the open air at Vienna, and attains a large size there; but it will not endure the climate north of Warsaw, nor Moscow, without protection. In the grounds of the palace of Läcken, near Brussels, there is a tree which has a clear stem three feet in diameter, with a compact globular head. When Läcken belonged to France, the palace was occupied by the Empress Josephine, who brought her gardener from Paris; and the poor man, while he was gathering seeds from this tree, fell from it, and broke his neck. At Schwöbber, near Hanover, there is growing, in alluvial soil, near water, a tree more than one hundred and twenty years old, and eighty feet in height, with a trunk two feet in diameter, and an ambitus of thirty feet. In Italy, the tulip-tree attains a height of seventy or eighty feet, flowers freely, and ripens seeds every year.

The elder Michaux measured a tulip-tree, three and a half miles from Louisville, Kentucky, which was twenty-two feet and a half in circumference five feet from the ground, and from one hundred and twenty to one hundred and forty feet in height. In 1842, there was felled from the estate of Mr. John Lewis, in Llangollan, Kentucky, a tulip-tree, eight feet in diameter, near the ground, and five feet in diameter seventy-five feet above. The trunk was perfectly straight and sound, and was sawed into boards of common lengths.

At Green Point, Bushwick, near New York, on the estate of Mr. N. Bliss, there is a tulip-tree which has a circumference of twenty-one feet at three feet above the ground, and a height of seventy feet.

In 1807, there existed a tulip-tree, in Hamilton, Adams county, Pennsylvania, noticed by John Pearson, in a communication to Dr. James Mease, in the "Memoirs of the Philadelphia Society for promoting Agriculture," for that year, which had a circumference of thirty-six feet, with a trunk thirty or forty feet to the forks, a large head, and, to all appearances, perfectly sound. In the same work, he mentions another tree as growing near the Virginia head of the river Roanoke, which was thirty-nine feet in circumference four feet from the ground, apparently sound, and about forty feet to the forks.

Soil and Situation. The Liriodendron tulipifera, in its natural habitat, delights only in deep, loamy, and extremely fertile soils, such as are found in the rich bottoms, lying along the rivers, and on the borders of the great swamps which are enclosed in the forests. Like almost all other trees, however, it will grow on soils of different qualities, and have its timber and other properties affected by the circumstances in which it is placed. But, according to M. Du Hamel, it neither thrives in France on a dry, arid, gravelly soil, nor on one with a subsoil of clay, or marl. The most rapid-growing young tulip-trees in England, it is said, were

in a deep, sandy loam, in a rather moist climate, in the West Riding in Yorkshire.

The situation most favourable to this tree, is one which, while it is sheltered from high winds, is at the same time, sufficiently exposed to the light and air to admit of the maturation of its leaves on every side, and the perfect ripening of its wood, without which it can neither resist the severe frosts of winter, nor form blossom-buds. At Kinlet, in Worcestershire, England, there is a tulip-tree, in a sandy loam, and partially sheltered situation, the lower part of which always comes into leaf before the upper part has the least appearance of doing so. The lower part is sheltered by high ground, while the upper part is exposed to a strong west wind. It flowers freely, and has a splendid appearance at that season, as also in autumn before it sheds its yellow leaves. If it were desired to grow the tulip-tree for the purpose of forming straight, clean timber, it should be placed in a close plantation, where one plant would draw upon another.

Propagation and Culture. The Liriodendron tulipifera is seldom, if ever, propagated otherwise than by seeds, which come up best in very fine mould, or sandy loam, in a shady situation, kept rather moist; but the varieties are, of course, multiplied by layers, budding, grafting, or inarching. When the seeds are sown in autumn, they generally come up in the following spring; but, sown in spring, or the beginning of summer, they generally remain a year in the ground. In France, and occasionally in England, the obtuse-lobed variety is raised by layers, or inarching; but, in either case, it requires two or three years before the plant can be separated from the parent stock. The tulip-tree, like the magnolias, having roots furnished with but few fibres, does not transplant readily; and therefore, the plant ought either to be kept in pots, or, if in the free ground, transplanted into the nursery every year; or, if neither of these modes be practicable, they should be removed to their final situation, when not more than two, or at most, three years old. The progress of growth of young trees, in England, in favourable situations, has been at the rate of sixteen feet in ten years.

Insects. From the bitter qualities of its leaves, the Liriodendron tulipifera does not seem to be much attacked by insects. In Smith and Abbot's "Insects of Georgia," it is stated, that the Phalana liriodendraria, or tulip-tree butterfly, feeds upon it. The insect went into the ground in Georgia, May 15th, came out the 5th of June; others, which went in the 11th of July, came forth on the 1st of August. The moth sits on the bodies of the trees, but is not very common.

Properties and Uses. The timber of the Liriodendron tulipifera, though classed among light woods, is yet, much heavier than that of the common poplar; its grain is equally fine, but more compact, and the wood is easily wrought, and polishes well. When dry, a cubic foot weighs twenty-five pounds. It affords excellent charcoal, the product of which, from dry wood, is twenty-two per cent. The heart-wood, when separated from the sap, and perfectly seasoned, long resists the influence of the air, and is rarely attacked by insects. Its greatest defect, when employed in wide boards, and exposed to the weather, is, that it is liable to shrink and warp, by the alternations of moisture and dryness; but this defect is, in a great measure, compensated by its other properties, and may be, in part, owing to its not being allowed sufficient time to be properly seasoned. The nature of the soil on which it grows, has so striking an influence upon the colour, and quality of this wood, that mechanics distinguish it by the names of White Poplar and Yellow Poplar. The external appearances which mark these varieties are so equivocal, that they can only ascertain to which of them a tree belongs, by cutting it. It is known, in general, that the white poplar grows in dry, gravelly, and elevated places; and is recognized, too, by its branchy summit, and by the small proportion which the light yellow heart-wood bears to

the sap-wood. The grain, also, is coarser and harder, and the wood decays more speedily; hence, it is neglected when the other variety can be obtained. The yellow poplar possesses every quality requisite to fit it for a great variety of uses. At New York and Philadelphia, and in the adjacent country, it was formerly employed in the construction of houses, for rafters, and for joists of the upper stories, for which purposes it was esteemed, on account of its lightness and strength, but as the timber has become scarce, pine and spruce have taken its place. In the middle, southern, and western states, where this tree abounds, it is more generally used in building, and is considered as the best substitute for pine, red cedar, and cypress, and serves for the interior work of houses, and sometimes for the exterior covering. The panels of doors and of wainscots, and the mouldings of chimney pieces, are made of this wood. In some states, shingles are made of it, about fifteen inches long, which are preferred to those made of pine, because they are more durable, and are not liable to crack from the effects of intense frost and sunshine. In most of the large cities and towns in the United States, boards sawn from this tree, are generally used for the panels of carriages. When perfectly dry, they take the paint well, and admit of a brilliant polish. Large quantities of this wood are consumed in the manufacture of trunks, covered with cloth, or skins; of tables, and bedsteads, which are stained, in imitation of mahogany, and for the seats of chairs. It often enters into the composition of bureaus, and cabinet-work generally, particularly when it is inlaid with veneers. It is also used for the circular boards and wings of winnowing machines, also for the construction of sleigh and wagon bodies, where white pine is not abundant, and for the interior of canal and steamboats. As it is easily wrought in the lathe, it is often used for bowls, brush, and broom heads and handles, and numerous other articles among turners' wares. Among agriculturists, trunks of these trees are often formed into eating and drinking troughs for their animals, which, when exposed to the weather, last as long as those made of chestnut and butternut. In some parts of the country, the wood of this tree is employed for the rails of rural fences. It is found useful, also, in the construction of bridges, as it unites lightness with strength and durability. The Indians who formerly inhabited the middle states, made choice of this tree to form their canoes, for which purpose it was well adapted. The trunk being of great length and diameter, and the wood being light and strong, it was sometimes wrought by them into canoes that would carry twenty or more persons. It is still used by the Indians and others in the western country, for the same purpose. Michaux remarks that, when one of these trees is felled, the chips of the heart-wood that are left upon the ground, particularly those which are left half buried in the leaves, suffer, at the end of three or four weeks, a remarkable change; the lower part becomes of a dark-blue, and they exhale a fetid, ammoniacal odour; though the live part of the bark of the trunk, branches, and still more of the roots, has an agreeable smell, and a very bitter taste, and, even under the same circumstances as the heart-wood, it neither acquires the blue colour, nor the disagreeable smell.

The bark of this tree is considered, by some, as scarcely inferior to the cinchona, being a powerful tonic and antiseptic. The aromatic principle appears to reside in a resinous part of the substance of the bark, and, when used, stimulates the intestinal canal, and operates as a gentle cathartic. In many instances, the stomach cannot support it, unless each dose is accompanied by a few drops of laudanum. These properties were well known to the American Indians, who employed the bark of the roots of this tree for the cure of intermittents.