Plant

Tulip tree

Liriodendron tulipifera

Also known as: tulip poplar, yellow poplar, whitewood

One of the tallest hardwoods in eastern North America — straight-trunked, fast-growing, with distinctive four-lobed leaves and large yellow-green tulip-shaped flowers. Among the most-common native canopy trees on Staten Island, especially in the Greenbelt and on better-drained interior soils. Larval host plant for the eastern tiger swallowtail butterfly.

Scientific

Liriodendron tulipifera is a member of the [[magnolia|magnolia]] family, not the poplar family despite the common name. One of the tallest eastern hardwoods — adults regularly 100–150 ft, exceptionally to 190 ft. Lifespan 200–300 years. Distinctive four-lobed leaves, fragrant tulip-shaped flowers in late spring, papery samara seeds. Fast early growth makes it a common pioneer on disturbed forest sites and a frequent component of older-growth canopy.

On Staten Island

Among the most-common canopy trees in the Greenbelt and on the borough’s better-drained interior soils. Spring flowering is conspicuous — large yellow-green flowers high in the canopy. Leaf litter is significant in autumn. Tiger-swallowtail caterpillars on tulip-tree foliage are part of the borough’s summer biology.

Sources

USDA Forest Service Silvics of North America: tulip-tree account
[[beacon-ny|New York]] Natural Heritage Program forest-community documentation

Rooted in life.

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Scientific

On Staten Island

See also

Sources

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