The Trees of Great Britain & Ireland/Volume 1/Liriodendron

by Henry John Elwes and Augustine Henry

 

LIRIODENDRON

 

Liriodendron,^[1] Linnæus, Sp. Pl. 535 (1753); Bentham et Hooker, Gen. Pl. i. 19 (1862).

 

Trees, several extinct and two living species, belonging to the Natural order Magnoliaceæ, with deciduous, alternate, stalked, saddle-shaped, or lyrate leaves. Flowers: solitary, terminal, stalked, regular, enclosed in bud in a 2-valved spathe, which falls off when the flower opens. Floral receptacle: cylindro-conic, bearing from below upwards 3 imbricated petaloid sepals, 6 petals imbricated in two rows, numerous stamens, with anthers dehiscing outwardly by longitudinal slits, and a spindle-shaped column of numerous densely imbricated independent carpels. Each carpel is a 1-celled ovary, containing 2 ovules, and terminating in a style with stigmatic papillae at its apex. Fruit: a cone of samaræ, falling off the receptacle when ripe, each containing 1 or 2 seeds.

Liriodendron appeared in the Cretaceous epoch, and numerous fossil species have been found in North America and Europe in the Tertiary period. Of the two now living, one occurs in the eastern half of the United States and Canada, the other is a native of Central China.

 

 

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^[2] and Maries^[3] 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^[4] 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.

 

 

LIRIODENDRON TULIPIFERA, Tulip Tree^[5]

 

Liriodendron tulipifera, Linnæeus, Sp. Pl. 1st ed. 535 (1753); Loudon, Arb. et Frut. Brit. i. 284 (1838); Sargent, Silva of N. America, i. 19, tt. 13, 14 (1891).

 

A lofty tree, attaining in America in the most favourable conditions a height of 190 feet, and a stem diameter of 10 feet. Bark grey and smooth in young trees, becoming darker in colour and furrowed in old trees. Roots, fleshy with pale brown bark, having an aromatic odour and pungent taste.

Leaves extremely variable in shape, but generally saddle-shaped or lyrate in outline, with a rounded or cordate base, and a truncate emarginate apex,^[6] the midrib being prolonged into a short bristle. Sometimes they are quite entire, but are more usually lobed, the lobes varying from 2–6 or even 8 in number, and often ending in a point. Venation pinnate. The leaves are 3–5 inches in length and in breadth, dark green and smooth above, lighter in colour and minutely pubescent underneath. Stalks about as long as the blades, angled and slender, so that the leaves quiver with any movement of the air. In autumn they turn bright yellow in colour, and give the tree a handsome appearance.

Two lateral stipules^[7] occur on the twigs, attached a little higher up than the insertion of the leaf-stalk. These are the scales which have formed the buds of the previous winter; and, as a rule, they shrivel up and fall off when the young leaves are fully matured; but some of them remain on vigorous shoots till late in summer.

The flowers resemble a tulip in shape, being 1½–2 inches long, with a width of 2 inches at the summit. The petals are greenish white, with an orange-coloured band at the base, which secretes nectar attractive to bees. These visit the trees in myriads in May, the flowering season in Illinois.

The fruit, light brown in colour, is a cone made up of a large number (about 70) of ripe carpels, which consist of a 4-ribbed pericarp surmounted by a flattened woody wing (the enlarged style). The wing may carry the seed by currents of air 300 or 400 feet from the parent tree. The carpels remain on the tree till thoroughly dry, some usually persisting throughout the winter on the receptacle, a few falling at a time as the wind dislodges them. The outer ones are nearly always sterile. The carpels will float in water for nearly a year without sinking; and this may explain the distribution of the tree along the banks of rivers. The seed has a fleshy albumen, in the summit of which is situated a minute embryo.

Seedling.—The seedling has two aerial short-stalked oval cotyledons about ½ inch in length. Above these on the stem follow the true leaves, the first and second orbicular in outline; the third and fourth showing lobes; all have long slender petioles. The first year's growth terminates in a bud just above the insertion of the fourth leaf. The primary root gives off a good many lateral fibres, which are delicate and brittle. Seedlings which germinated at Colesborne early in June were 3-4½ inches high in August, with roots of about the same length or slightly shorter. According to Elwes there was no marked tendency to form a tap-root in any of the specimens which he examined.

 

Varieties

Several forms are in cultivation, which differ from the wild tree in habit, in form and colour of the leaves, and in colour of the flowers.

1. Var. pyramidalis, Lavallée.—Tree with erect branches, forming a narrow pyramid, like the fastigiate oak.

2. Var. integrifolia, Kirch.—Leaves rounded at the base and without lobes. In this form, the shape of the leaves of seedling trees is preserved.

3. Var. obtusiloba, Pursh.—Leaves with only one rounded lobe on each side of the base.

4. Var. heterophylla.—Foliage variable; some leaves being entire, others with lobes, which are acute or obtuse.

5. Var. crispa.—Leaves with undulate margins.

6. Var. variegata.^[8]—Forms, with variegated leaves, of which several sub-varieties have received names, as argenteo-variegata, aureo-variegata, medio-picta. That known as aureo-marginata^[9] in which the edges of the leaves are yellow is the best.

7. Var. aurea.—Flowers yellow.

 

Identification

In summer, the shape of the leaves is unmistakable, resembling those of no other hardy tree: the variety integrifolia, though without lobes, preserves the truncate, slightly emarginate apex, in the centre of which may be seen the midrib prolonged as a short bristle.

In winter, the twigs and buds are very characteristic. Buds: terminal, larger than the lateral, which are alternate on the twigs, and arise from them at an angle of 45°. They are stalked, glaucous, glabrous, composed of 2 stipules joined together by their edges, forming a closed sac, in which is contained the young shoot;^[10] and on opening it a leaf will be seen embracing an interior bud. It is folded on its mid-rib with the stalk bent like a hook, bringing the apex of the leaf to the base of the bud. The twigs are glabrous, shining brown or slightly hoary, and marked by stipular rings just above the leaf-scars, which are circular, placed obliquely on prominent cushions, and dotted like a sieve with cicatrices of the fibrous bundles. The lenticels are few and minute. The pith is solid, but not continuous, being interrupted by woody cross-partitions. (A.H.)

 

Distribution

In Canada the tulip tree occurs^[11] in rich soil in the western peninsula of Ontario, from Hamilton to Huron Co. It forms a noble tree in the thick forest west of St. Thomas, and has been found in Nova Scotia.^[12]

In New England it occurs in the valley of the Hoosac river, Mass., in the Connecticut river valley, and in Rhode Island, where it is frequent.^[13]

It extends west to Southern Michigan as far north as Grand river, southward through all the States east of the Mississippi to Alabama, attaining its maximum size in the valleys of the Ohio river and its tributaries, and in the foot-hills and valleys of the Southern Alleghany mountains, in Tennessee, Kentucky, and North Carolina. West of the Mississippi it occurs commonly, though not in the south-eastern parts of Missouri and Arkansas. Its southern limit appears to be in Northern Florida, Southern Alabama, and Mississippi.

Sargent says of this tree that it is one of the largest and most beautiful trees of the American forest, only surpassed in the Eastern States by the occidental plane and the deciduous cypress.

It sometimes attains in the deep river bottoms and warm, damp, summer climate of Southern Indiana a height of 160–190 feet, with a straight trunk 8–10 feet in diameter clear of branches for 80–100 feet from the ground. Individuals 100–150 feet tall with trunks 5–6 feet in diameter are still common. The branches, which are small and short in proportion to the trunk, give this tree a pyramidal habit, except in the case of old or very large individuals, on which the head is spreading.

I have seen it growing in the neighbourhood of Boston, where, however, it did not seem to attain as large a size as in the south of England, and where seedlings do not come up freely so far as I saw. Near the gate of the Arnold Arboretum the largest tree, about 70 years old, was 85 feet high by 8 feet 6 in girth.

In Druidhill Park, Baltimore, it becomes a much finer tree, and surpassed in height any other species growing there. The tallest I saw was in a shady dingle, and measured 125 feet by 11 feet, with a straight clean stem. Older trees had rough bark coming off in scales.

In the mountains of North Carolina, at Biltmore, I saw much larger trees, and to give an idea of its development in this region I figure (Plate 24) a tree from a photograph^[14] kindly sent me by Mr. W. Ashe of the North Carolina Geological Survey, taken in the winter. This tree, which stood in Yancey Co., North Carolina, was a very characteristic specimen, more than 160 feet high and 6 feet in diameter at 5 feet from the ground. The smaller timber having been cut from around it only a few years previously, the form of the tree is perfectly typical, and shows the characteristic sharp angles made by the smaller erect branches with the larger horizontal limbs.

Another photograph sent me by Mr. Ashe shows a group of Liriodendron, in the forests of Transylvania Co., N.C., 120–140 feet high and 45 feet in diameter, associated with Quercus rubra and Betula lutea which are not so tall. This magnificent forest is, like most of those accessible to the lumbermen, rapidly decreasing in area and beauty, owing to the growing demand for timber.

For further details of the distribution in North Carolina refer to Pinchot and Ashe's admirable account, pp. 39–41, and to a paper by Overton Price on "Practical Forestry in the Southern Appalachians."^[15]

The largest trees of this species, however, have been recorded by Professor R. Ridgway^[16] from Southern Indiana and Illinois, near Mount Carmel, Illinois, which I had the pleasure of visiting under the guidance of Dr. J. Schneck in September 1904. Though the largest trees recorded by him have now been cut, reliable measurements were taken of a tulip tree which reached the astonishing height of 190 feet, exceeding that of any non-coniferous tree recorded in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. Another tree cut "8 miles east of Vincennes, was 8 feet across the top of the stump, which was solid to the centre; the last cut was 63 feet from the first, and the trunk made 80,000 shingles." The soil here is an exceedingly rich, deep alluvium, and the climate in summer very hot and moist.

It is stated in Garden and Forest, 1897, p. 458, that at the Nashville Exhibition a log of this tree was shown by the Nashville, Chattanooga, and St. Louis Railroad Company, which measured 42 feet long, 10 feet 4 inches in diameter at the butt, and 7 feet at the smaller end, containing 1260 cubic feet of timber, and about 600 years old.

 

Introduction

The tulip tree was probably introduced, according to Evelyn,^[17] by John Tradescant about the middle of the seventeenth century, but this is somewhat uncertain, though it was grown by Bishop Compton at Fulham in 1688.

According to Hunter the tree which first flowered in England was in the gardens of the Earl of Peterborough at Parsons Green, Fulham, and this he describes in 1776 as "an old tree quite destroyed by others which overhang it." At that time there were also some trees of great bulk at Wilton, the seat of the Earl of Pembroke in Wilts.

 

Cultivation

Though the tree can be propagated by means of layers, and in the case of varieties by grafting, yet as seeds are easily procured from the United States it is much better to raise it from seed. Cobbett, who was a great admirer of the tulip tree, gives a long account of it, and of the best means of raising it,^[18] and says that if sown in May, which he thinks the best time, it will germinate in the following May, but that if sown in autumn, part will come up in the next spring and part in the following year.

Dawson in an excellent paper on the Propagation of Trees from Seed,^[19] says, "The tulip tree invariably takes two years, and as the proportion of good seed is as I to 10, it should be sown very thickly to ensure even an ordinary crop."

Probably this opinion was based on his experience with seeds grown in New England, where they do not ripen so well as they do in the south, for my own experience, gained by sowing seeds received from Meehan of Philadelphia, is different. In the spring of 1903 I sowed part of the seeds in a greenhouse, where they began to germinate six weeks later. Of those sown in the open ground, perhaps 10 per cent germinated in June. The following summer was cold and wet, and the seedlings in the open ground made slow progress, being only 23 inches high in the autumn, whilst those kept under glass were from 6–15 inches high at the same time. The young wood seems to ripen better than that of most North American trees and, as the spring of 1904 was favourable, they were not checked by frost. But the seedlings are difficult to transplant, owing to the fleshy and brittle nature of their roots, and are therefore best kept in a box or large pot till they are two years old, when the roots should be trimmed and planted out in deep sandy soil, and watered the first year; after this they should be transplanted frequently until large enough to put in their permanent situation, and if tall and straight grown trees are desired the young trees must be very carefully pruned, as like the Magnolia they do not thrive so well if large branches are cut off.

The tulip tree rarely ripens its seed in England, and that which I got from a tree at Westonbirt in Gloucestershire in 1901 did not germinate. But I am informed by Mr. A.C. Forbes, that a self-sown tulip tree is growing in the sand walk at Longleat, and Colonel Thynne confirms this in December 1904, when he tells me the young tree is 8 feet high. This, however, is the only instance I know of in England where natural reproduction has occurred.

 

Soil and Situation

The tree requires a deep, moist, rich soil to bring it to perfection, preferring heavy land to light, and apparently disliking lime in the soil. It probably prefers a moderate amount of shade when young, and would be more likely to grow tall and straight if surrounded by other trees. But isolated trees sometimes grow with a clean straight stem, as at Leonardslee in Sussex (see below) even on dry soil.

In the Gardeners Chronicle for 1879 there was much correspondence on the merits of this tree for general cultivation in England, from which I extract the following particulars, which will be valuable to intending planters.

Most of the correspondents agree that it grows best on heavy soil, inclining to clay, or with a clay subsoil. Sir W. Thiselton Dyer says it does not do well on the light, dry soil of Kew Gardens.

Mr. Bullen says that it grows well in heavy clay in the damp and smoky climate of Glasgow, and a tree is mentioned at the Grove, Stanmore, on damp, gravelly clay, which in 1879 was 77 feet high by 9½ in girth.

The tulip tree has been much recommended for planting in towns, and specimens may be seen in London at Victoria Park, Manor House Gardens, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Waterloo Park, Clissold Park, etc.

Mr. Hovey says that in America it is not so much planted for ornament as it deserves to be, presumably because American planters desire a quick effect, and that it does not transplant well after it is 4-6 feet high; but that it grows on gravel, sand, peat, or clay, and is not very particular in that climate as to soil. He has known it grow 30 feet high and more in 20 years.

It is very liable to be attacked by rabbits, which eat the bark even of large trees, and I have seen several which have been killed or much injured in this way.

 

Remarkable Trees

Though this tree is one of the handsomest when in flower, stateliest in habit, and most beautiful in the autumn tints of its leaves, it is not now planted in England nearly as much as it was a hundred years and more ago, having, like so many other fine hard-wooded trees, been supplanted by conifers and flowering shrubs, which are easier to raise and more profitable to the nurserymen, who now appear to cater rather for the requirements of owners of villas and small gardens than for those of larger places. But though the tulip tree loves a hot summer, it endures the most severe winter frosts of our climate without injury, and in a suitable soil grows in some parts of the southern counties, after it is once established, to a great size.

The largest living specimen I know of in England is at Woolbeding, in Sussex, the seat of Colonel Lascelles, and measures 105 feet by 17. Though not so perfect in shape as some others, it is a very beautiful tree, and seemed, when I saw it in 1903, to be in good health. It grows on a deep, alluvial, sandy soil, which suits plane trees and rhododendrons very well (Plate 25).

There was even a larger one at Stowe near Buckingham, which when I saw it in 1905 was dead, apparently barked at the base by rabbits. It was at least 107 feet high, with a bole of about 30 feet, and a girth of 1 feet at 5 feet, and 21 feet 4 inches at the ground.

Another very fine tree is at Leonardslee, near Horsham, the seat of Sir Edmund Loder, Bart., also in Sussex, and is growing at an elevation of 400-500 feet on soil which, though very favourable to rhododendrons, is too poor to grow either oak, birch, or larch to the same size in the same time. Sir E. Loder tells me that the tree cannot be more than 90 years old, and it is now 97 feet high, with a perfectly clean, straight trunk 25-30 feet high, which towers above all the native trees of the district (Plate 27).

At Horsham Park, the residence of R.H. Hurst, Esq., is a very fine and symmetrical tree which I measured rather hastily, as over 100 feet in height by 15 in girth.

Another very remarkable tree (Plate 26) is the one at Killerton, in Devonshire, which I am sorry to hear has suffered severely in the gale of September 1903. This tree must be one of the oldest now living, as Sir C.T.D. Acland tells me that in a picture of his house, taken early in the last century, it seems nearly as tall as at present, and it is mentioned by Loudon as being 63 feet high in 1843. When I measured it in 1902 it was 80 by 15 feet, with a bole about 18 feet long, and must have contained nearly 300 feet of timber.

A very fine tulip tree, on heavier, damper soil at Strathfieldsaye, Berkshire, the seat of the Duke of Wellington, measures 105 feet by 12; and though not such a well-shaped tree as the one at Leonardslee is of the same type.

The tree which Loudon refers to as being the tallest known to him at Syon, was, in 1844, 76 feet high, at about 76 years of age, but this is now dead, as is the old tree at Fulham Palace mentioned by Loudon, which he estimated at 150 years of age.

At Bury House, Lower Edmonton, there is a magnificent tree which John W. Ford, Esq., informs us is thoroughly sound and in perfect health. He estimates it to be 70 to 75 feet in height, the girth 5 feet from the ground being 17 feet 4 inches. The bole at 13 feet divides into five limbs, of which the biggest are 5 feet round. The soil is splendid, being brick earth.

At Deepdene, Dorking, there is a fine tree on the lawn, which in February 1904 was 83 feet high by 14 feet in girth.

At Petworth, the seat of Lord Leconfield, there is a curious old tree which has an immense burry trunk 17 feet in girth.

A tree was recorded at Longleat in 1877 as being 106 feet high and 10 feet in girth, but this, as I learn from the Marquess of Bath, is now dead, though one or two other large specimens remain.

There is a very fine tree at Margam, in Pembrokeshire, which, as measured in 1904, is 92 feet high by 13 feet 6 inches at 6 feet from the ground, with a spread of branches 57 feet in diameter.

An immense tree at Esher Place, Surrey, is mentioned by Mr. Goldring as having a girth of 22 feet.

At Barton, Suffolk, two trees^[20] were planted in 1832. They first flowered in 1843. In the year following the severe winter of 1860 no flowers were produced, but the foliage was as good as usual. In 1904 these two trees had both attained the same height—79 feet; one having a girth of 7 feet 2 inches at 5 feet above the ground; the other divided into two stems at a point 2 feet from the ground where the girth was 10 feet 4 inches. The soil at Barton is good, consisting of 2 or 3 feet of loam resting on boulder clay.

At Ashby St. Ledgers, Rugby, the seat of the Hon. Ivor Guest, there is a good tree^[21] which measured 80 feet in height by 16½ feet in girth in 1900. This tree breaks into three stems at a little above 4 feet from the ground, and the girth is taken below this point.

At Hampton Court, Herefordshire, a tree^[22] on the lawn in 1879 was 80 feet high by 12 feet 7 inches in girth, with an estimated cubic contents of timber of 223 feet. When I measured it in 1905 it was 95 by 13 feet, but the top and trunk were decaying.

At Erlestoke Park, Wiltshire, a tree,^[23] growing near the bank of a lake, was 80 feet high by 14 feet in girth at 4 feet from the ground in 1902.

The following records from Hampshire were reported in Woods and Forests:^[24]—North Stoneham Churchyard, near Southampton, a tree 12 feet 10 inches in girth; Cranbury House, near Winchester, a tree 11 feet 9 inches in girth; at Gramwell's Meadow, east of East Tytherley Manorhouse, near Romsey, a tree 85 feet high by 10 feet 5 inches in girth, with a stem free from burrs, planted in 1780. These measurements were taken in 1884. At Hale Park, in 1879, there was a tree 75 feet high with a short bole of 4 feet, girthing 18 feet 3 inches.

The finest tree at Kew, 70 feet high in 1844, is gone, but there still exists a well-proportioned specimen^[25] which stands at the end of the rhododendron dell. It is now (1905) 79 feet high by 9 feet 9 inches in girth. It produces fruit freely every year, but the seeds are always poorly developed and infertile.

In Scotland a tree was mentioned by Loudon as growing at The Hirsel, Coldstream, the seat of the Earl of Home, which was at that time 100 years old and 20 feet in girth 3 feet from the ground. I was informed by Mr. Cairns, head gardener at the Hirsel, that in 1903 it was slowly decaying, some of the larger branches being gone, but that what remained carry a large amount of healthy foliage, and flowers more or less every year.

At Drummonie Castle, Perthshire, formerly a seat of the Lords Oliphant, Hunter^[26] mentions a tree 8 feet in girth at 5 feet, and another at Gorthy Castle,^[27] girthing 9 feet 7 inches at 3 feet, which had been a good deal injured by cattle grazing in the park. He also (p. 400) speaks of a large tree at Castle Menzies, 10 feet in girth, but I did not see it on either of my visits to this interesting old place.

The tulip tree is not mentioned in the Old and Remarkable Trees of Scotland, but it grows at Gordon Castle, and even as far north as Dunrobin Castle in Sutherlandshire.

In the south-west of Scotland there do not appear to be any large trees, the biggest mentioned by Messrs. Renwick and M'Kay^[28] being one at Auchendrane House, Ayrshire, which was, in September 1902, 53 feet by 5 feet 8 inches, and one at Doonside, Ayrshire, which was 46 feet 9 inches by 8 feet 1 inch.

At Jardine Hall, Lockerbie, a tree^[29] measured in 1900 60 feet in height by 9 feet in girth.

At St. Mary's Isle, Kirkcudbright, a tulip tree^[30] was, in 1892, 10 feet 9 inches in girth.

In Ireland large tulip trees are rare. There are two good specimens at Fota, which measured in 1903, one 87 feet high by 11 feet 7 inches in girth, the other 57 feet by 14 feet 7 inches.

In France the tulip tree, favoured by warmer summers, seems to thrive better, and attains a larger size than in England. Mouillefert^[31] speaks of a tree at the Chateau de Frêne, near Chaulnes, in the department of Somme, which in 1899 was 38 metres in height by 5 in circumference. He also mentions having seen in 1902 at the Chateau de Cheverny, near Blois, tulip trees planted along the banks of a canal, which at 50–60 years of age measured 31 metres in height and 2 metres in girth at 5 feet from the ground, whilst plane trees of the same age close to them were only 24 metres high and 1.65 in girth.

He considers that in a suitable soil and situation such as the valleys in a granitic mountain range, or on damp, rich soils, in fact in such places as the ash, the poplar, and the plane thrive, this tree might be grown as a forest tree to produce valuable timber, or as copse wood, cut at 18 or 20 years of growth for turnery purposes.

Considering, however, the cost of raising this tree in the nursery, and its liability to suffer from autumn frost in a young state, I do not think the tree can be considered likely to become a forest tree in England, except possibly in a few choice situations in the south and south-west.

 

Timber

The timber of the tulip tree is now very much used in North America for many purposes, and is also largely imported to England under the name of white-wood, canary-wood, and yellow poplar. Stevenson says of it,^[32] "Though classed among the light woods it is much heavier than that of the common poplar, its grain is equally fine but more compact, and the wood is easily wrought and polished. It is found strong and stiff enough for uses that require great solidity. The heart-wood, when separated from the sap and perfectly seasoned, long resists the influence of the air, and is said to be rarely attacked by insects. It is imported in the form of waney logs and in sawn planks of very fine dimensions, in which state it commands a price fully equal to that of the first quality of Quebec yellow pine.

Hough^[33] speaks of it as "light, rather strong, with close straight grain, compact, easily worked, and yielding a satiny finish. Sap-wood nearly white, heart-wood of a light lemon-yellow colour, or sometimes of a light brownish tint—whence its two seemingly contradictory names, white and yellow poplar, the former referring to the sap-wood, the latter to the heart."

Sargent says it is light and soft, brittle and not strong, is readily worked, and does not easily split or shrink. The heart-wood is light yellow or brown, weighing when absolutely dry 26-36 lbs. to the cubic foot. Large canoes were formerly made from it by the Indians, and it is now extensively used in construction, for the interior finish of houses, and in boat-building, as well as for shingles, pumps, and wooden ware.

The only timber I know which it resembles closely in colour, texture, and grain, is that of Magnolia acuminata.^[34]

Neither Stevenson, Hough, nor Stone, however, speak of a form of this timber known as "blistered poplar," which is occasionally found, as I believe, only in old trees, and which is sometimes imported in small quantities to Europe. This seems akin to the figured maple wood known as bird's eye maple, but has the figure in oblong patches from 2 inches long downwards, of a dark olive colour on a paler olive-green ground, and is one of the most ornamental woods I know, fit to be used in the finest cabinet work. I saw large planks of this variety in the Exhibition at St. Louis, and have had some of it worked into the panels of a screen.

The wood of the tulip tree grown in England seems to be nearly as good in quality as the imported timber, though not quite so pure in colour. From a tree which was cut at Highclere a plank was sent me by the kindness of the Earl of Carnarvon, which has been used in the same screen, and I have a large book-case of which the back is made of the imported wood, selected by an experienced cabinetmaker as best for the purpose.

Mouillefert says that in Paris its use is increasing for all purposes for which the wood of the lime and poplar is suitable, and that it has when fresh cut a pleasant smell of orange, which, however, is soon lost as it dries.(H.J.E.)

 

1. Liriodendrum is the spelling used by Linnæus in his earlier descriptions of the genus in Corollarium Gen. Pl. 9 (1737), and Hort. Cliff. 223 (1737); but the form given above is the one now always adopted.
2. In 1875. See L.M. Moore in Jour. Bot. 1875, p. 225.
3. In 1878. See Hemsley in Gard. Chron. 1889, vi. 718.
4. Diels, Flora von Central China, 322 (1901).
5. Usually called "Yellow Poplar" in the United States, "White-wood" also being a name in use amongst the western lumbermen.
6. Lubbock, in Trans. Linn. Soc. (Bot.) xxiv. 84, ascribes the form of the leaves to the way in which they are packed in the bud.
7. Occasionally the stipules are attached as wings to the leaf-stalk either near its base or higher up; and in rare cases they even unite with the base of the leaf-blade, appearing then to be extra lower lobes of the leaf itself. For accounts of these peculiar stipules and remarkable forms of leaves occurring in tulip trees, see E.W. Bury in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club, 1901, p. 493, and in Torreya, 1901, p. 105, and 1902, p. 33.
8. The variegated form in which the yellow marking occurs as irregular blotches in the central part of the leaves is well depicted in Lemaire, Illust. Horticole, xv. t. 571 (1868).
9. A good figure of the variety is given in Flore des Serres, xix. 2025 (1873).
10. Within the outer bud or sac are contained several younger buds, one within the other, each with a folded leaf.
11. Macoun, Cat. Canadian Plants, pt. i. 28 (1883).
12. G. Lawson, Proc. N.S. Inst. Science, 86 (1891).
13. Dame and Brookes, Trees of New England, 104 (1902).
14. Pinchot and Ashe, Bull. No. 6, North Carolina Geol. Surv. pt. ii. (1898).
15. Yearbook U.S. Dept. of Agric. (1900).
16. Notes on Trees of Lower Wabash, Proc. U.S. Nat. Hist. Mus. 1882, p. 49; 1894, p. 411.
17. Evelyn's Silva, 214. Ed. Hunter (1776).
18. Woodlands, par. 523 (1823).
19. Trans. Mass. Hort. Soc. 1885, p. 152.
20. Bunbury, Arboretum Notes, 60.
21. Letter to Curator at Kew.
22. Garden, 1890, xxxviii. 178. The measurements refer to 1879, according to a note in Woods and Forests, April 23, 1884.
23. Gard. Chron.1902, xxxii. 61.
24. Issues of April 16 and 23, 1884.
25. Figured in Gard. Chron. 1890, viii. 219, where it is stated in the text that the tulip tree bears pruning well, and that there is an avenue of clipped trees in one of the courts at Chatsworth.
26. Hunter, Woods, Forests, and Estates of Perthshire, 145 (1883). This is apparently the tree mentioned in Gard. Chron. 1890, viii. 388, as being 60 feet in height then, and having recently flowered.
27. L.c. p. 371.
28. Renwick and M'Kay, Brit. Assoc. Handbk. 131 (1901).
29. Garden, 1890, xxxviii. 178.
30. M'Kay and Renwick, Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc. Glasg. Sept. 4, 1894, p. 17.
31. Traité de Sylviculture, 467–468 (1903).
32. The Trees of Commerce, 96–103 (1902).
33. The American Woods, pt. i. p. 40, t. 2 (1893).
34. Mr. Weale tells me that the timber of this Magnolia, as well as that of M. grandiflora and M. glauca, come into the Liverpool market mixed with that of the tulip tree, and that though the two former may easily be distinguished by a person who knows them well, yet that M. glauca can only be identified with a lens, and that in consequence of this mixture, opinions differ as to the suitability of the wood for laying veneers upon. He thinks that if bone dry, the wood of the tulip tree is fit for this purpose, but not equal to that of American chestnut, American cherry, or Honduras mahogany, of which the latter is best. He also says that for pattern making Quebec yellow pine is distinctly superior, and worth from 1s. to 2s. a foot more.