Organic Forest Plants & More

Yellow-poplar (Tuliptree)

Trees and Shrubs

Zones: 4 - 9

Duration: Perennial

Growth Habit: Tree

Mature Size: Height: 80-120 ft. (up to 200 ft.). Trunk diameter: 2-5 ft.

Flowers: April - June

Fruit: September - October

Common alternate names for Yellow-poplar: yellow-poplar, tulip magnolia, tulip tree, whitewood.

Scientific name for Yellow-poplar: Liriodendron tulipifera

Planting Information: Tulip poplar is exacting in soil and moisture requirements. It does best on moderately moist, deep, well drained, loose textured soils; it rarely grows well in very dry or very wet situations. It will tolerate a pH of 4.5 to 7.5.

Natural regeneration of tulip poplar is usually by stump sprouts and seed. Regeneration from seed requires a seedbed of mineral soil, adequate soil moisture, sufficient direct sunlight for early growth; seedlings are intolerant of shade.

Colors: Leaves: deciduous, bright yellow in fall. Flowers: yellowish green pedals conspicuously marked with reddish-orange bands, tulip-like. Fruit: brown.

Edible - food uses of Yellow poplar: NA

Healing medicinal qualities of Yellow-poplar: NA

Other uses for Yellow-poplar:

The wood of tulip poplar is moderately light, soft, brittle, moderately weak, and is very easily worked. It is used for furniture stock, veneer and pulpwood.

Tulip poplar makes a desirable street, shade, or ornamental tree but the large size it attains makes it unsuited for many sites.Tulip poplar makes a desirable street, shade, or ornamental tree but the large size it attains makes it unsuited for many sites. Its good points for aesthetic use are: (1) rapid growth (2) pyramidal form (3) resistance to insect and disease damage (4) unusual leaves and attractive flowers, and (5) yellow autumnal color.

Tulip poplar is planted for reforestation purposes because of its rapid growth and the commercial importance of its wood, and is often planted as an ornamental.

Wildlife:

The fruits provide food for squirrels in the late fall and winter months, and the white-tailed deer often browse on the twigs.

General description and characteristics of Yellow-poplar:

Tulip poplar actually is not a poplar, but a member of the magnolia family. The leaves are tulip-shaped, alternate, and simple. The leaf is smooth on both surfaces, dark green and lustrous above, pale and often with a slight whitish bloom beneath.

Twigs are moderately stout, olive-brown, to reddish brown, very smooth and usually lustrous; the large terminal bud has two large duck-bill shaped scales.

Tulip poplar produces tulip-shaped, light greenish-yellow flowers from April to June. It is a prolific seed bearer but has a low percent germination. The cone shaped fruit clusters usually persist on branches. There are about 12,000 seeds per pound.

The bark on younger trunks and branches is quite smooth, light ashy-gray with very shallow, longitudinal, whitish furrows. With age the bark becomes very thick, having deep interlacing furrows and rather narrow rounded ridges.

This tree is rapid growing, attaining heights of 80-120 feet and a trunk diameter of 2 to 5 feet. Young trees have a pyramidal form. Tulip poplar and white pine were the largest trees in the eastern forest.