tulipifera – ‘tulip bearing/producing’ referring to form of the flowers

Native range: Eastern North America

Leaves:

• alternate
• simple
• entire
• palmately lobed, but with a broad truncate apex
• “Cat face”-shaped

Flowers:

• flowers tulip shaped
• large
• upright
• 1.5–2” long
• 3 sepals, greenish
• 6 petals, greenish with broad orange band at base
• blooms usually high in tree
• stamens – many, whorled, short
• 60–100 styles

Fruit:

• cone-like fruit
• aggregate of samaras, spirally arranged

Other characteristics:

• tree to 150 ft.
• very straight trunk & fast growing (important timber tree in the SE US)
• thin branches
• deciduous
• yellow fall color

Relevant info:

• may live 300 years
• relict genus of the Tertiary (65 to 2 million yrs ago)
• only other species in genus is native to China
  • evidence that supports evolution by geographic isolation

Ecology & Adaptations:

• native to Eastern N. America
• found in rich woodlands, bottomland forests, swamps, bluffs, low mountains, and hills
• 0–1500 m.
• pollination by beetles foraging for pollen
• generally not self-compatible (can’t pollinate itself)
• seeds dispersed by wind, aided by ‘wings’
• herbivore & microbial defense:
  • compounds in leaves, including sesquiterpene lactones and alkaloids, deter herbivory
  • alkaloids in wood demonstrate antimicrobial activity.
• adapted to wetlands:
  • lenticels enable absorption of oxygen that can be used by the roots in saturated soils
  • shallow root system facilitates access to oxygen
  • knee roots (aboveground projections from roots) may aid in gas exchange