Tulip Tree

I was driving home today, on a street I'd gone down thousands of times, when I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye that caused me to come to a screeching halt (luckily it was a quiet street) and grab my camera. It was a tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) in full bloom. Even more importantly, it had a blooming branch low enough that I could look right into the flowers.

Here's the thing. We have a tulip tree at the Garden in the Woods, but it grows in the woods, very straight and tall, and all the flowering branches are way up at the very top, where you never get a chance to see them. But the tree I'd run across was planted as a specimen in someone's front yard, so it had fully developed lower branches that were hanging down near the roadside and just bursting with flowers. I don't know why I'd never noticed it before.

The tulip tree is native to eastern North America (Boston is just about the northern edge of its range), and you can probably tell from the shape of the flower and seedpod that it's a member of the magnolia family. The name tulip tree probably derives from the flower, which has some resemblance to a giant tulip (one that's about 4 inches across!). In the wild, tulip trees prefer moist soils, and tend to grow near streams. They need sunlight, so will not grow in established woodlands, but frequently get their start in abandoned fields.

The picture on the left, below, looks down into the flower and shows the many stamens and cone-like pistil in the center, surrounded by the orange-splotched corolla. The picture on the right shows 3 stages of the flower (click on thumbnail to enlarge). In the center is the flower bud, on the left is a blossom just starting to open, and on the right is the fruit that remains after the petals have fallen away. According to this informative article by Donald Beck, each flower is only receptive to pollination for 12 to 24 hours after opening.

Comments

[JLB]

Greetings! I found you through GardenVoices, and I am enjoying your blog. You were so lucky with those images of the tulip tree flowers! The flowers in the trees around my place withered before I could take pictures. I have linked to your blog from my yellow poplar post at my tree blog, Arboreality, so that my visitors can see some nice images of the flowers.

Cheers,
JLB

[Carol]

Nice blog, and I enjoyed your delight in the tulip tree, the state tree of Indiana!

[Nancy]

Hi Leslie. Reading your post, it sounded like you had stumbled upon the tulip tree right in our front yard! (We're in Rhode Island). For the first time, the flowers this year were low enough to look right into (about 5 feet off the ground) and the branches reach right to the street. My husband planted the tree about 15 years ago and it's probably a bit over 40 feet tall now.

I found your site, doing a search about pruning 4-5 lower branches on our tree. I would like to, as it's so low and wide that the house is obscured by it more than I'd like and the ends of the lowest branches hang on the ground. My husband is worried that pruning it might damage the tree. All I could find on this was that Magnolias don't always respond well to pruning, but if it's done by mid-summer, there's time for the cuts to heal before winter. The branches I'm thinking of cutting are far below the eye-level flowers we had this year.

Anything you might know about pruning our tree would be appreciated!

Thank you, and I've really enjoyed browsing your site.
Nancy Jenkinson

[Jim Tanner]

Hi !. I have a Tulip tree and every mid summer the leaves turn yellow with little black specs and fall. I would appreciate any advice or ideas as to why this happens. Thank You. Jim.

[joanne]

i have a large number of mountain laurel plants that do not bloom.. or do not seem to bloom.. we have purchased a tract of land and it has numerous mtn. laurel plants... would be great if they would bloom...any suggestions..

help..

and thanks..

joanne

[Amber Buehler]

My husband & I have a tulip tree in our back yard. We just noticed that some bark is coming off of the limbs. We had a Japanese Maple which was struck by lightning and the bark was similar in appearance to how our tulip tree looks now. Some larger branches have broken off as well. We recently had a storm which could have caused this, but the missing bark is more of a concern. Is this tree almost dead? If so, can it be saved? Any information would be helpful. Thank you.

[Girish Patel]

I am at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. There is a Tulip Tree in blossom that was planted here as a gift. I have never seen blossom like it before, but this site and this article has helped me to identify it. Nice photos. Thank you.

[William Shepherd]

We would like to remove a couple of lower branches from our tulip tree. Any advice on when best to do this? Thanks.

[michael jones]

Great pictures! The Tulip Tree is something incredible and extremely beautiful! I have seen it in some gardening guides only! I am jealous of you!

[Alta]

I was looking for a tulip tree clip art when I came upon your site. My preschoolers and I planted a tulip tree this fall in our school yard. My plan is to take a picture of them each year with their tree while they are in school it will be interesting to them and me for the next ten years.