The tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is descended from an extremely remote ancestry, and remains one of the stateliest denizens of the North American river valleys, ranging from 150 to 190 feet high. The form of its leaves is unique among those of forest trees, being lyrate, ending in two pointed or rounded lobes considerably longer than the midrib. Ruskin declared it to be the only leaf which did not display one form or other of a Gothic arch—round or pointed. These leaves turn a beautiful clear yellow in autumn, and in summer the flowers, in size and shape like those of a tulip, attract numbers of bees. If only they were a little more gaily painted, the tulip tree would be among the showiest of park trees; but the petals are of a dull greenish white, with a splash of orange at the base of the interior of each, where one can't see it—unless one happens to be a bee.

However, its flowers apart, a well-grown tulip tree is a beautiful object at all seasons, owing, in winter, to the tracery of its smooth, grey branches—in summer, to its rich, bright green foliage, and in autumn to the splendour of its decay.

It was probably brought to England in the reign of Henry VIII. or Elizabeth by one of those botanists—Tradescant or another—who quietly pursued their useful labours while Christians were hurrying each other to the stake, and politicians were chopping off the heads of inconvenient opponents.

In lofty towers let Pallas take her rest,
Whilst shady groves of all things please us best.

In the following century Evelyn said "the tulip tree grows very well with the curious amongst us to a considerable stature. I wish we had more of them." Given deep, generous soil and suitable shelter, this fine tree might develop in England proportions equal to those it attains in its native forests, where, says Elwes, it reaches "a height of 160 to 190 feet, with a straight trunk 8 to 10 feet in diameter, clear of branches for 80 to 100 feet from the ground." But its requirements in soil and shelter are imperative; it is a greedy feeder, and its branches are too friable to stand violent winds. Meet conditions have been secured at Woolbeding, already mentioned as the site of the loftiest plane in Britain. The tulip tree there has reached a height of 105 feet, with a girth of 17 feet. Another, of equal height, but less girth, is reported from Strathfieldsaye, which I must have missed when I was there, for I have no note about it.

In Scotland, the largest tulip tree I have seen is one at the Hirsel, in Berwickshire. Loudon mentioned it in 1837 as being 100 years old and 20 feet in girth, but when I saw it last, some fifteen years ago, it was failing in the upper storey, though it still had some vigorous foliage. It is said to bear flowers every year; though Lord Barrymore tells me that in his famous arboretum on Fota Island, Cork Harbour, the tulip tree grows well, 87 feet high and 11 feet 7 inches in girth, but never flowers. Probably, like the Oriental plane, it demands hotter summers than we can give it in the north and west. In the southern counties of England it blossoms abundantly, and occasionally ripens seed.

Tulip tree timber is not of the first quality. Professor Sargent describes it as light, soft, and brittle. Nevertheless, it is much used in America for interior work and boatbuilding, and is imported by English merchants under the name of yellow poplar or canary-wood. Mr. Elwes, who had a fine collection of different kinds of timber made into furniture and panels, says it closely resembles magnolia wood, which is not to be wondered at, seeing that the tulip tree belongs to the order MagnoliaceÆ.

Few people plant tulip trees nowadays, more's the pity; for they are far more decorative than many of the conifers which have gone so far to thrust deciduous trees out of fashion. It grieved me some years ago to see a Spanish silver fir (Abies pinsapo), one of the least majestic of its family, planted as the memorial of a royal visit to a fine English demesne; it grieves me still when I reflect how little chance it has of thriving on a shaven lawn.