Also commonly called Tulip-Poplar or Yellow-Poplar, this is one of our most common and familiar trees. It's most common in bottomlands and often associates with Sweetgum. The leaves, buds, flowers, fruits, and bark are unique - it would be difficult to confuse it with any other species (apart from the very similar Chinese version).

Tulip-Poplar is one of the host plants for the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. At left you can see a freshly laid green egg on the left lobe of the leaf.

Haywood Co., NC 5/10/08.

The flowers are somewhat reminiscent of tulips, giving the tree its name. They may be difficult to see before they fall to the ground, since they are often 100 feet or more overhead in the canopy.

Haywood Co., NC 5/9/08.

Haywood Co., NC 5/9/08.

Bark of a sapling.

Bark of a mature tree.