Phil Bendle Collection:Liriodendron tulipifera (Tulip Tree)

Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Magnoliids 
Order: Magnoliales
Family: Magnoliaceae 
Genus: Liriodendron 
Species:  L. tulipifera 
Binomial name: Liriodendron tulipifera
Common names: Tulip tree, Tulip-Poplar, Yellow poplar

The Tulip tree is a native to North America and is the state tree of Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee  Its a  large tree with a long, straight limb-free bole very often reaching over 30m tall. Its leaf is alternate, simple, palmately veined, orbicular, 4-lobed with an entire margin, 10cm to 20cm long, notched to flat top. Somewhat shaped like a tulip, light green to green. Its flower is monoecious; perfect, showy, resembling a large tulip, but high in the tree, 6.3cm long, with yellow-green petals and an orange corolla, appearing in late spring to early summer. 
The fruit is an oblong (cone-like) aggregate of samaras (5cm long), deciduous at maturity; each samara is 1-winged, 3.8cm long, and curved upwards at seed cavity (resembling the front keel of a boat and winter; base whorls of samaras persist on fruit into following spring and resemble wooden flowers high in the tree. 

Tree in December
[1]

Tulip trees with autumn leaves
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Tulip tree mid May
[3]  

The tulip shaped flower.
[4]

[5]

[6]

A Liriodendron tulipifera leaf.shape. 
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Trunk of Liriodendron tulipifera
[8]

 

 

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