I see tulip poplar trees every day in the Atlanta, Georgia area. Most people take them for granted as “just another tree”, but I see much of interest in them. Native Americans valued them for making dugout canoes and Daniel Boone made a 60 foot dugout canoe from this tree. Early settlers used the long straight logs to build log cabins, and the wood was favored for railroad ties and fence posts. I think about these things when I see tulip poplar trees.
The name “tulip poplar” is interesting, because though people often refer to the tree as a “poplar” it is not in the poplar family. When I chose to research this tree by the 
name poplar I found nothing that resembled the tree I knew. This tree was found to have more in common with the magnolia tree than the poplar tree, with the most notable similarity being the large showy flowers they both have. The tulip poplar belongs in magnolia’s family of Magnoliaceae instead of poplar’s family of Salicaceae, and should be referred to as “tulip poplar” to help make this distinction. Its scientific name is Liriodendron tulipifera. Though this tree could be difficult to classify, it has interesting qualities that make it easy to identify in nature.
The tulip poplar tree is pyramidal in shape when young, and oval at maturity. It stands straight with a high canopy, as taller trees shed their lower limbs. A tree can be as tall as 160 feet and the trunk can be as wide as 10 feet. The bark is smooth and gray, becoming furrowed with age.
Leaves on the tulip poplar tree are distinctive, having four lobes. A good way to remember this tree is to look at the leaf to see that it looks like a “popular” style of t-shirt. The leaves can be as long and wide as 8 inches, and in autumn these leaves are yellow. In dry seasons leaves may turn and fall early, as this late July picture shows. Leaves are attached alternately to long petioles or stems that allow the leaves to flutter.
The tree makes yellow tulip-shaped flowers in the spring, hence the name “tulip poplar”. These flowers develop after the leaves are fully developed, and as the flowers lie above the leaves the flowers can easily go unnoticed. The cup-shaped flowers are up to 2 inches in diameter, are pale green or yellow, and have a splash of orange at the base. These flowers have a large amount of nectar, which can be seen glistening and practically dripping from the petals so that spots may be seen on sidewalks and other areas where nectar has dripped. Tulip poplar’s sweet nectar draws hummingbirds and bees, where a bee can be filled on a single flower instead of having to forage as many as a hundred flowers to get the same amount. Once people notice these large 
tulip- shaped flowers up in a tree, their eyes tend to be drawn to them every time the tree is passed.
Tulip poplar flowers produce seeds in woody cones which look much like small pine cones. The seeds making up the cones are samaras, or seeds wit wings. In the picture below, made in December, the cones are easily seen on this bare tree. The seeds provide food for birds and mammals.
The tulip poplar tree is interesting for its uses today. Known to be the tallest hardwood tree native to the eastern United States, it is a valuable timber tree. It is a fast growing, 
straight grain tree and though the branches are weak and easily broken, it has few of the common problems of weak wood strength and short life span seen in most fast-growing species. The wood is used in general construction, flooring, plywood, furniture, and paper pulp. The tree may be used as a specimen tree in large areas, living as long as 100 to 300 years.
The tulip poplar tree is an interesting and valuable tree. After learning about this tree, it is easy to see how it became the state tree of Tennessee, Kentucky and Indiana, and is now found all over the world. This is a great tree to 
know.