Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 12, 1994 TAG: 9406210047
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Patricia Held
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Few trees compare to the tulip. This magnificent tree towers over most other trees in the rich woodlands of the East. When it stands alone it spreads its limbs wide and is an impressive sight. English journalist and agriculturist William Cobbett, upon seeing the tree, wrote; "There is but one species of the tulip tree, but that one, as the lioness said of her club, is a tree indeed."
The tulip tree is also called "canoewood." It is said that Daniel Boone made a 60-foot canoe from one. The tree's other common name is yellow poplar. But it is not a poplar at all. The tree is in the same family as the magnolia and pawpaw. The tulip tree's range extends farther north than these and grows as far north as Vermont and down through Florida and Louisiana.
Its leaves and blossoms look like tulips. The leaves are broad with four lobes forming blunt points in the shape of a tulip silhouette. The flowers are among the prettiest of all the flowering trees. Upon first sight these spring blooms look almost unreal because of their strange color combination. The flower has six pale green petals with an orange center and bright orange bands across each petal. Unfortunately, the blossoms are high in the treetops and are not even noticed unless a flower falls to the ground.
By late summer the cone-shaped fruits ripen and begin to shed their curved and winged seeds. These are eaten by many song birds, and of course, the squirrels.
The tulip tree is one of the largest of our native trees, growing from 125 feet to 250 feet and often with a 6- to 24-foot trunk diameter. It stands above most other trees in thick woodlands, usually rising from the ground with uniform size, straight as a telephone pole, as it reaches for the sun. If it grows in the open, it becomes an enormous spreading tree with a very large girth.
Fast-growing and disease-resistant, the tulip tree is planted and utilized extensively for lumber. Its wood, sometimes called white wood, is soft, light and easily worked. It is used for furniture, interiors, boxes, pulp and paper.
The tulip was a favored ornamental lawn tree as far back as the time of George Washington. In the 18th century, everyone planted them in the gardens and around their homes. Washington planted yellow poplars near his home at Mount Vernon. In his journal he wrote, "February 28,1785 planted the poplars on the right walk."
Thomas Jefferson had poplars near both his home at Monticello and at Poplar Forest, his summer home in Bedford County. Some of these still stand today.
One of the most famous tulip trees grows in the town of Bedford. Standing 146 feet high, 10 feet thick and with a girth of 31 feet, this is Virginia's largest tree. It may even be the oldest tulip in the nation. This giant of a tree can be found in Poplar Park on the south side of town.
Many older homes still have these majestic trees gracing their front lawns. However, it seems that modern landscaping designs use more exotic ornamentals. These have replaced the more traditional trees. We must travel to the woodlands or older sections of towns to enjoy the beauty of the tulip trees.
Mail questions about the plant and animal wildlife in the region to: Patricia Held, P.O. Box 65, Goode, Va. 24556.
Patricia Held is a Bedford County free-lance writer and author specializing in natural history.
by CNB