North American tulip tree - Liriodendron tulipifera.

Taxonomy.

Kingdom - Plantae.

Subkingdom - Tracheobionta.

Superdivision - Spermatophyta.

Division - Magnoliophyta.

Class - Magnoliopsida.

Subclass - Magnoliidae.

Order - Magnoliales.

Family - Magnoliaceae.

Genus - Liriodendron liriodendron.

Species - Liriodendron tulipfera liriodendron.

The North American tulip tree is one of Kew Garden’s heritage trees. Specimens of this tree were first introduced into Britain from North America in 1688 and Kew’s heritage tree was planted in Kew Gardens circa. 1770 and is around 250 years old. It can be found in the Azalea Garden just off of the Princess Walk and may have been donated by John Tradescant the Younger who introduced the plant, along with the yucca, into Kew.

It can be found from Southern New England through to North Florida. Apart from it’s ornamental aspect, with it’s yellow tulip-like flowers with orange markings, it is a very important hardwood found throughout Eastern North America, although there are concerns of it becoming scarce in it’s natural environment. The Appalachian mountains and Piedmont area account for 75% of the species.

It is also known as the canoewood tree as it was the preferred timber for boat building by the native Americans in the Appalachian mountains. This is due to its size, growing to over 100’ in height, and its very straight trunk. It may reach 300 years of age. As it is a hardwood it is used for many wood-based products, and was, in the past, the preferred lumber for cabins. It is also known as whitewood as well as tulip, yellow or white poplar. It is the State tree of Indiana and Tennessee which shows it’s importance in the American psyche.

The flowers are distinctive, being an avocado-fleshy colour, with orange markings and large orange stamens. The fruit is cone-shaped and multilayered. The leaves are waxy, and 5 - 8” across ii summer, turning a golden to clear yellow in Autumn.

In close proximity to the Liriodendron tulipifera is an avenue of Liriodendron chenense.

These were introduced by Ernest Wilson in 1901 into Britain and is considered to be a better plant than the Liriodendron tulipifera. It is found in the Dabashan area of Sichuan but due to excessive felling by the timber trade it is becoming a very rare, threatened tree Because of this a team from Kew visited the area returning with a quantity of seeds which produced 28 trees. It is not as hardy as the Liriodendron tulipifera but is a fitting addition to the Heritage North American tulip tree.