The tulip tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ) is a big deciduous Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree aboriginal to easterly North America , belong to to the magnolia menage . It is also known as the tulip poplar , American tulip tree , tulipwood , tuliptree , tulip poplar , yellow poplar , fiddletree , and yellow - poplar . This tree is the North American representative of the two - species genus Liriodendron , and it is the tallest eastern hardwood .
They are found from southerly Ontario and Illinois eastward to southwesterly Massachusetts and Rhode Island , and south to central Florida and Louisiana . The tree diagram are most plebeian in the Appalachian Mountains , but they can also be found in the Piedmont and Coastal Plain regions .
The tulip tree diagram can also be find from southern New England and New York , west to southern Michigan and northern Ohio , and to the south to Louisiana and northerly Florida . It is also found in part of easterly Canada .
Tulip tree diagram is one of the tallest eastern hardwoods , with mature heights crop from 60 to 90 foot and a spread of 30 to 40 foot . It is tight - growing , especially when young , and can make a ripe summit in a comparatively short period . It can even grow much taller under favorable conditions . The Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree has a pyramidal to all-embracing conical habit , with shorts of ripe trees turn over 4 - 6 feet ( 1.2 - 1.8 meters ) in diam . The tallest have sex tulip tree , settle in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park , stands at an telling 191.9 feet ( 58.49 meters ) .
The leave of absence of the tulip tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ) are large , measuring 3 to 8 inches ( 8 to 20 centimetre ) in length and width . The parting are four - lob , with the lobes separated by deep sinuses . The leaf gross profit is placid , with no teeth or serrations . In the give , the leaf emerge a brilliant immature color , and they change state a gilded yellowness in the fall before dropping . The leaves are format alternately along the sprig , and they have tenacious petioles that allow them to dart in the breeze .
Initially , the barque is smooth and dark green on unseasoned tree diagram . As the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ages , it develops a unique pattern of bass crease and ridge , which become more marked with years . The furrow are line with ashen . Even when the barque is honest-to-goodness and furrowed , it retains a unruffled look . The coloring material of the bark change from a light gray / brown when the tree is vernal to a dark gray or brown as it ages .
The flowers have a unique structure , with petals that are stiff and resemble a tulip , but with a more upright and open shape . These flower are yellowish - green with a touch of orange on the outside , and they bloom in late give , typically after the leave have full developed . The flowers are quite orotund , mensurate about 1 to 4 inches ( 3 to 10 cm ) in diam . They are quite beautiful but can often go unnoticed on large tree diagram due to their high posture in the tree ’s canopy .
The root system of a mature tulip tree diagram is typically just as deep and broad as the tree is tall and wide , respectively . This mean that the roots can broaden 100 feet mystifying and 30 human foot encompassing .
Tulip trees can dwell up to 500 years or more when planted in optimum conditions . When young , and can grow more than 25 inches a year . However , as they get on , their growth rate slow down down . The Tree can reach tiptop of 80 to 100 feet on average , with some specimens turn over almost 200 feet under optimal conditions .
The lifespan of a tulip Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree can vary depending on several factors , include the develop conditions , climate , and whether it is embed in its native habitat or in a naturalise setting . In cosmopolitan , tulip tree diagram expand in moist , well - drain soil with a pH of 3.7 to 6.5 and prefer full sun to fond specter . It is hardy in USDA hardiness zones 4 through 9 .
