LIRIODENDRON CHINENSE, Chinese Tulip Tree
- Liriodendron chinense, Sargent, Trees and Shrubs, iii. 103, Pl. lii. (1903); Hemsley in Hook. Ic. Pl. t. 2785 (1905).
- Liriodendron chinense, Hemsley, Gard. Chron. 1903, p. 370.
- Liriodendron tulipifera, L., var.? chinensis, Hemsley, Jour. Linn. Soc. xxiii. 25 (1886).
The Chinese tulip tree was discovered by Shearer[1] and Maries[2] in the Lushan mountains near Kiukiang, on the Yangtse, and was afterwards found by me growing plentifully in the mountain woods both north and south of Ichang, in Hupeh, at 3000 to 6000 feet altitude. Von Rosthorn[3] found it farther west, at Nan-ch'uan in Szechuan. It does not occur on the lower levels, and is essentially a tree of the mountains bounding the valley of the Yangtse, from 107° to 116° E. longitude, and from 29° to 32° N. latitude. I never saw any large specimens, and it does not attain, so far as is known, the size of the American species. Von Rosthorn records it as about 50 feet in height. Maries notes it as a fine spreading tree occurring at a temple near Kiukiang. It was introduced in 1901 into cultivation from Hupeh by Wilson, who collected for Messrs. Veitch; and young trees may be seen in their nursery at Coombe Wood, and also at Kew. These seedlings in January 1905 were at Kew about 15 inches in height, and have stood without injury the cold of the last few winters; but it is too soon yet to decide whether this species will turn out to be hardy in this climate.
The Chinese tulip tree is almost indistinguishable in foliage from the American tree, but as a rule the leaves are more glaucous on the under surface, and the lobing is deeper and more obtuse. The flowers are greenish in colour and smaller in size than those of Liriodendron tulipifera. Moreover, the narrow petals spread out when fully open, and have not a tulip shape. The carpels are consolidated, so as to appear like a solid column, and are obtuse at the apex when ripe. In the American species the carpels are free from each other at an early stage, and have when ripe acute recurved tips.
In winter there is little to distinguish the two species, except that in Liriodendron chinense the twigs are grey (not shining brown), the buds come off at a very acute angle, and the leaf scars are oboval and not truly circular as they are in the common species.
The Chinese call the tree Wo-ch'ang-ch'iu, i.e. "goose-foot Catalpa," from the shape of the leaves, but the tree is of no economic importance with them. It apparently regenerates readily from the stool, as I found it, where the wood-cutters had been at work, as strong coppice shoots with enormous leaves, more than a foot across.
