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
Tulip trees with autumn leaves
Tulip tree mid May
The tulip shaped flower.
A Liriodendron tulipifera leaf.shape.
Trunk of Liriodendron tulipifera
