Its leaves look as though the tip has been snipped off with scissors, giving a saddle shape
Tulip tree.
Nature · Trees
Tulip tree
Neophyte (introduced about 1650) · deciduous to 35 m · large parks and gardens
Liriodendron tulipifera — Magnoliaceae
A magnolia relative from eastern North America, one of the first American trees to reach Britain, brought in the mid-17th century and connected to John Tradescant the younger. Its saddle-shaped leaves with a squared-off tip, and its tulip-like flowers, make it easy to name. It is not invasive.
How to know it
How to spot them
- ▸Leaves unlike any other British tree: four-lobed, with a flat or notched tip as if the end has been cut off with scissors
- ▸Butter-yellow autumn colour
- ▸Tulip-shaped greenish-yellow flowers marked with orange, high in the canopy in early summer on mature trees
- ▸Cone-like upright fruit clusters of winged seeds that persist into winter
- ▸Long, straight trunk with pale, furrowed bark
- ▸Look-alikes: maples and planes have pointed lobes; only the tulip tree has a truncated, notched tip.
How to know it
A member of the magnolia family from eastern North America, brought to England around 1650 by a royal gardener's family
Tulip tree. John Tradescant the younger.
Greenish-yellow flowers marked with orange, shaped like the bloom for which it is named, appear high in the canopy
Tulip tree.
Its leaves turn butter-yellow in autumn
Tulip tree (RHS).
A specimen growing in London in 1688 was probably brought or sent back by a Tradescant
Tulip tree (Oxford University Plants 400).
Its Latin genus name means lily tree, and it is a relative of magnolias
Tulip tree. Liriodendron tulipifera.
Quick-fire facts
- •Liriodendron tulipifera — Liriodendron means lily tree; tulipifera means bearing tulips; family Magnoliaceae
- •Introduced into British cultivation in the mid-17th century; a specimen growing in London in 1688 was probably brought or sent by John Tradescant the younger (Oxford University Plants 400)
- •Native to eastern North America, where it is among the tallest eastern hardwoods
- •Mature trees flower in early summer; the flowers are pollinated by bees and beetles and yield abundant nectar
- •RHS: generally pest-free, but may be susceptible to honey fungus
- •Requires lime-free soil in sun or partial shade (RHS)
- •Not invasive in Britain
- •Classic quiz identification: the leaf with a truncated tip
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Sources
- RHS — Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
- Oxford University Plants 400 — Liriodendron tulipifera