Liriodendron tulipifera aka Tulip Poplar

Tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera, is a large deciduous tree in the magnolia family. Other common names include tulip poplar and yellow poplar. It grows wild across eastern North America, from southern Ontario south to Florida and west to Texas. It lives in moist forests, mountain coves, bottomlands and swamps. It is the state tree of Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana.

This is one of the biggest native trees in North America. Garden trees reach 70 to 100 feet (21 to 30 m) tall and 30 to 50 feet (9 to 15 m) wide. Wild giants pass 150 feet (46 m), and records reach 200 feet (61 m). Young trees have a pyramidal shape. With age the crown becomes oval or irregular, and the straight trunk may lack branches for a long way up.

The leaves are alternate and simple, with four lobes and a squared-off, notched tip. They measure 3 to 8 inches (8 to 20 cm) across. They are bright green above and paler below, then turn gold to clear yellow in autumn. Young bark is smooth and grey-green. Older bark turns grey-brown, with flat ridges and pale furrows in a diamond pattern. Twigs smell sweet and spicy when snapped. The winter buds look like a duck's bill.

Upright, cup-shaped flowers open from late May into June. They are 1.5 to 3 inches (4 to 8 cm) long. The petals are yellow-green with an orange band at the base. They are fragrant but often go unseen, because they sit high in the crown after the leaves open. A cone-like cluster of winged samaras follows. It turns brown in autumn and breaks apart over winter.

Give this tree full sun or light shade and deep, moist, well-drained soil. It prefers slightly acid, lime-free ground but will tolerate a range of pH. Clay, loam and sand all suit it. Growth is fast on good sites and slows with age. Hot, dry, compacted sites stress it, and drought makes inner leaves yellow and drop early. It is hardy in USDA zones 5 to 9, and zone 4 with suitable stock. The RHS rates it H6.

Use it as a shade, lawn or specimen tree in large spaces only. Compact cultivars such as 'Arnold' and 'Little Volunteer' suit smaller sites. The light, soft timber goes into furniture, plywood, boats and paper. Native Americans carved canoes from the trunks. Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds visit the nectar-rich flowers. It is a larval food plant for the eastern tiger swallowtail and spicebush swallowtail.

Aphids and tulip tree scale are the main pests. Both leave sticky honeydew, and black sooty mould then grows on it. Possible diseases include verticillium wilt, canker, powdery mildew and leaf spot. The RHS also lists honey fungus. The soft wood can snap in strong wind or under ice. Rabbits chew young bark, but deer browse it only moderately. The ASPCA lists it as non-toxic to dogs, cats and horses. The root was once used to flavour spruce beer.