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Tennessee Symbols, Tree: Tulip Poplar
Tulip/Yellow Poplar
(Magnoliaceae Liriodendron tulipifera)
Adopted in 1947.
The tulip poplar was designated as the official state tree of Tennessee by Public Chapter 204 of the Acts of the 1947 General Assembly. The act stated that, as no state tree had ever before been designated, the adoption of an official tree seemed appropriate. The tulip poplar was chosen because it was used extensively by the Tennessee pioneers to construct their houses, barns and other buildings. The tree sometimes reaches a height of 200 feet and frequently shows 50-100 feet of trunk without a branch. The bark is smooth and brownish gray. The leaves are very smooth with a broad notch at the tip. The flowers are tulip-like, green-orange in color, and are 1-3 inches deep. In honor of the state's Bicentennial celebration in 1996, the yellowwood was named Tennessee's bicentennial tree.
The following description of the tulip poplar, the botanical name of which is Liriodendron Tulipifera, is taken from The Complete Guide to North American Trees:
"Perhaps the most stately tree of our range, it sometimes reaches a height of 200 feet with a stem as regular as though turned on a lathe and frequently showing 50 to 100 feet of trunk without a branch. The twigs are smooth, brownish gray, becoming cracked into a regular network of shallow, firm ridges; an old trunk bro-ken into deep, rough ridges. Its leaves are very smooth and shin-ing with a broad notch at the tip, usually four-lobbed, 2 to 8 inches long. Its flowers are tulip-like, green orange, 1 to 3 inches deep. The fruit is cone-like hanging on through the year, and is 2 to 3 inches long."
Yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera), also called tuliptree, tulip-poplar, white-poplar, and whitewood, is one of the most attractive and tallest of eastern hardwoods. It is fast growing and may reach 300 years of age on deep, rich, well-drained soils of forest coves and lower mountain slopes. The wood has high commercial value because of its versatility and as a substitute for increasingly scarce softwoods in furniture and framing construction. Yellow-poplar is also valued as a honey tree, a source of wildlife food, and a shade tree for large areas.
Leaf: Alternate, simple, palmately veined, orbicular, 4-lobed with an entire margin, 4 to 8 inches long. Somewhat shaped like a tulip.
Flower: Showy, but high in the tree, 2 1/2 inches long, with yellow-green petals and an orange corolla. Present April to June.
Fruit: An oblong aggregate of samaras, deciduous at maturity. Each samara is 1-winged, 1 1/2 inches long, and 4-angled. Maturing August to October.
Twig: Red-brown in color, often with a shiny appearance or a waxy bloom. Stipules are large and encircle the twig. Buds are elongated and valvate, resembling a "duck bill". Twigs have a sweet, spicy odor when broken.
Bark: Light gray-green in color, often with white in grooves or in patches. Smooth when young, developing flat-topped ridges and furrows in diamond shaped patterns. On older trees sapsucker holes are common.
Form: In a stand, this tree is very straight with a limb-free bowl. Open-grown trees have a pyramidal crown when young, becoming oval in shape.
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| Kingdom |
Plantae -- Plants |
| Subkingdom |
Tracheobionta -- Vascular plants |
| Superdivision |
Spermatophyta Seed plants |
| Division |
Magnoliophyta Flowering plants |
| Class |
Magnoliopsida Dicotyledons |
| Subclass |
Magnoliidae |
| Order |
Magnoliales |
| Family |
Magnoliaceae Magnolia family |
| Genus |
Liriodendron L. tuliptree |
| Species |
Liriodendron tulipifera L. tuliptree |
Source:
Dendrology at Virginia Tech
U.S. Department of Agriculture
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