Liriodendron chinense

Chinese Tulip Tree
Conservation status
Near Threatened (IUCN 2.3)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Magnoliids
Order:	Magnoliales
Family:	Magnoliaceae
Genus:	Liriodendron
Species:	L. chinense
Binomial name
Liriodendron chinense (Hemsl.) Sarg.

Liriodendron chinense, the Chinese tulip tree, is Asia's native species in the Liriodendron genus. This native of central and southern China grows in the provinces of Anhui, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Yunnan, and also locally in northern Vietnam. Protected populations occur in the Tianmushan National Reserve[1], Mt. Huangshan[2], Wuyi Shan[3], and Badagongshan Nature Reserve[4].

Liriodendron chinense twig with flowers

Description

Liriodendron chinense is very similar to the American species, Liriodendron tulipifera, differing in the often slightly larger and more deeply-lobed leaves, and in the shorter inner petals in the flowers, which lack the orange pigment of L. tulipifera. The Chinese tulip tree reaches about 40 metres (130 ft) tall^[1].

Cultivation

It is not as hardy as the American species, but is cultivated on other continents as an ornamental tree. It is grown in England (where there are many at Kew Gardens ^[2]), Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. In North America, it grows as far north as Boston, Massachusetts in the east, and Vancouver, British Columbia in the west. In cultivation it grows as fast as the American tulip tree.

References

1. ^ Flora of China draft account of Magnoliaceae (site currently down; see google cache)
2. ^ Kew Gardens site on tulip trees

• Hunt, D. (ed). 1998. Magnolias and their allies. International Dendrology Society & Magnolia Society. (ISBN 0-9517234-8-0)

External links

• www.Asianflora: Liriodendron chinense