tulip tree (TVA, White's Creek Small Wild Area, Plants)

tulip tree

Liriodendron tulipifera

Summary ²

Liriodendron tulipifera — known as the tulip tree, American tulip tree, tuliptree, tulip poplar, whitewood, fiddle-tree, and yellow poplar — is the Western Hemisphere representative of the two-species genus Liriodendron, and the tallest eastern hardwood. It is native to eastern North America from Southern Ontario and Illinois eastward across southern New England and south to central Florida and Louisiana. It can grow to more than 50 m (165 feet) in virgin cove forests of the Appalachian Mountains,...

Associated forest cover ³

Yellow-poplar is a major species in four forest cover types (Society of American Foresters) (14): yellow-poplar (Type 57), Yellow-Poplar-Eastern Hemlock (Type 58), Yellow-Poplar-White Oak-Northern Red Oak (Type 59), and Sweetgum-Yellow-Poplar (Type 87). It is a minor species in 11 types: Eastern White Pine (Type 21), White Pine-Hemlock (Type 22), White Pine-Chestnut Oak (Type 51), White Oak-Black Oak-Northern Red Oak (Type 52), White Oak (Type 53), Northern Red Oak (Type 55), Beech-Sugar Maple (Type 60), Sassafras-Persimmon (Type 64),

Loblolly Pine (Type 81), Loblolly Pine-Hardwood (Type 82), and Swamp Chestnut Oak-Cherrybark Oak (Type 91).

On bottom lands and on the better drained soils of the Coastal Plain, yellow-poplar grows in mixture with the tupelos (Nyssa spp.), baldcypress (Taxodium distichum), oaks Quercus spp.), red maple (Acer rubrum), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), and loblolly pine (Pinus taeda). In the Piedmont, associated species include oaks, sweetgum, blackgum (Nyssa sylvatica), red maple, loblolly pine, shortleaf pine (Pinus echinata), Virginia pine (P virginiana), hickories (Carya spp.), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum), and redcedar (Juniperus virginiana).

At lower elevations in the Appalachian Mountains, yellow-poplar is found with black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia), white pine (Pinus strobus), eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), hickories, white oak (Quercus alba), other oaks, black walnut (Juglans nigra), yellow pines, flowering dogwood, sourwood, sweet birch (Betula lenta), blackgum, basswood (Tilia americana), and Carolina silverbell (Halesia carolina). At higher elevations, associated species include northern red oak (Quercus rubra), white ash (Fraxinus americana), black cherry (Prunus serotina), cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata), yellow buckeye (Aesculus octandra), American beech (Fagus grandifolia), sugar maple (Acer saccharum), and yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis). Trees associated with yellow-poplar in nonmountainous areas of the North and Midwest include white oak, black oak Quercus velutina), northern red oak, ash, beech, sugar maple, blackgum, dogwood, and hickories.

Pure stands of yellow-poplar occupy only a small percentage of the total land within the range of the species, but they are usually on productive sites that include some of the most valuable timber-producing forests in eastern North America. It has been repeatedly observed in the southern Appalachians that the percentage of yellow-poplar increases noticeably with increasing quality of the site. Where yellow-poplar grows in pure, or nearly pure, stands on medium and lower quality sites, it probably originated on abandoned old fields.

Damaging agents ⁴

Yellow-poplar is unusually free from damage by pests compared with many other commercially important species. While more than 30 species of insects attack yellow-poplar, only 4 species are considered to have significant economic impact (8). The tuliptree scale (Toumeyella liriodendri) causes loss of vigor by removing large quantities of phloem sap. Scale attacks often kill leaders of seedlings and saplings causing them to be overtopped by competitors. The yellow-poplar weevil (Odontopus calceatus) feeds on buds and foliage and may occur in outbreaks over large areas. The rootcollar borer (Euzophera ostricolorella) attacks the phloem tissue at the base of the tree and provides entry points for rots and other pathogens. Attacks by the Columbian timber beetle (Corthylus columbianus) do not kill the tree but may degrade the wood. The defect consists of black-stained burrows and discolored wood called "calico poplar."

Fire scars, logging damage, animal and bird damage, top breakage, dying limbs, and decaying parent stumps all provide entry for decay-causing fungi (16). Probably the most common type of decay associated with basal wounding and decaying stumps is a soft, spongy, white or gray rot caused by the fungus Armillaria mellea. A white heartwood rot caused by Collybia velutipes often is associated with top breakage and dying limbs. Species of the genus Nectria have been associated with stem cankers. Incidence of this disease and mortality from it was greatest on low-vigor trees.

A canker caused by Fusarium solani was isolated from large yellow-poplars in Ohio and was shown to cause characteristic cankers through pathogenicity studies. Some mortality results during periods of drought, but F solani apparently is not a virulent pathogen and causes damage only when the host is weakened by unfavorable environmental factors.

Dieback and associated stem canker of yellow-poplar saplings were reported to have resulted in considerable mortality in some stands. A fungus of the genus Myxosporium was associated with dead bark of infected trees and was shown to cause canker formation after experimental inoculations. Identical dieback symptoms were reported for scattered areas throughout the South. Symptoms included chlorosis of leaves, sparse crown, dieback, trunk and branch cankers, and epicormic sprouting. Several fungal species were consistently isolated from cankered trees, but there was uncertainty about the causative agent. The severity and extent of infection are greater in upland sites than in bottom-land sites. All canker-forming diseases reported for yellow-poplar appear to be confined to, or most severe on, trees that are low in vigor because of drought, poor site, or competition.

A nursery root-rot disease caused by Cylindrocladium scoparium causes root and stem lesions. It is frequently lethal in nursery beds and causes low survival and poor growth when infected seedlings are outplanted. Extensive root damage and mortality in a 27-year-old yellow-poplar plantation have been reported.

Yellow-poplar logs, especially when cut in warmer seasons, are subject to rapid deterioration because of attacks of wood-staining fungi that feed largely on the starch and sugars in the green sapwood and penetrate deeply while the wood is moist. The most common rapid-staining species is Ceratocystis pluriannulata.

Yellow-poplar seedlings and saplings have thin bark and are extremely susceptible to fire damage.

Even a light ground fire is usually fatal to small stems up to 2.5 cm (1 in) in diameter. These stems resprout after fire, but repeated fires may eliminate yellow-poplar from a site. When the bark becomes thick enough to insulate the cambium (about 1.3 cm; 0.5 in), yellow-poplar becomes extremely fire resistant.

Sleet and glaze storms, which occur periodically within the range of yellow-poplar, may cause considerable damage. Stump sprouts are particularly susceptible to injury, slender trees may be broken off, and tops of dominant and codominant trees are often broken. Top damage is often the point of entry for fungi. Although yellow-poplar usually makes remarkable recovery after such storms, repeated damage can result in a growth reduction and loss of quality.

The leaves, twigs, and branches of yellow-poplar are tender and palatable to livestock and white-tailed deer, and young trees are often heavily browsed. Seedlings are grazed to the ground, small saplings are trimmed back, and even large saplings may be ridden down and severely damaged. In areas where animals are concentrated, young yellow-poplar is frequently eliminated. Rabbits also eat the bark and buds of seedlings and saplings and can be quite destructive at times.

When the sap is running in the spring, yellow-poplar is very susceptible to logging damage. If a falling tree strikes a standing poplar, there is often considerable bark loss up and down the bole of the standing tree. Even if the bark appears only lightly bruised, it may subsequently dry up and fall off in long strips.

Frost, especially in frost pockets, can affect the early growth and development of yellow-poplar. Following a late spring frost in a 20-year-old plantation, it was found that leaf mortality varied from 5 to 100 percent of the leaves on the individual trees. Leaf mortality was lowest on trees with a high foliar content of potassium. Frost may also cause bole damage in the form of shake, a separation of growth rings resulting in cull. A weather-induced defect called blister shake, related to frost shake, was described in 30-year-old yellow-poplar trees in West Virginia.

Vines can be extremely damaging to yellow-poplar. Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica), kudzu (Pueraria lobata), and climbing bittersweet (Celastrus scandens) have been known to have deleterious effects on yellow-poplar in isolated cases. However, the most widespread damage throughout the Appalachians results from wild grapevines (Vitis spp.) (36,41), particularly on good sites that have been regenerated naturally by clearcutting. Many forest managers and researchers consider grape the most serious threat to production of high-quality yellow-poplar timber in the Appalachian region. Grapevines damage young trees by breaking limbs and tops, twisting and bending the main stem, and intercepting solar radiation. The result is reduced growth, malformation of stem and crown, and sometimes death of the trees. Grapevines also worsen winter storm damage in some areas by furnishing increased surface area for accumulation of ice and snow.

Sources and Credits

(c) Aydin Ã–rstan, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-ND), http://www.flickr.com/photos/23594521@N00/2497130069
Adapted by Jonathan (JC) Carpenter from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liriodendron_tulipifera
(c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/22778722
(c) Unknown, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC), http://eol.org/data_objects/22778730

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tulip tree

Summary 2

Associated forest cover 3

Damaging agents 4