# Tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera)

> Tuliptree, Liriodendron tulipifera: a large tree of 60 to 150 feet for zones 4 to 9, when it flowers and fruits, and the natives we grow for the same ground.

Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/species/tuliptree/

![Three cup-shaped tuliptree flowers, pale green and yellow with orange bands, among broad squared-off leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/species/tuliptree-2-1000.jpg?v=a186c61a "Tuliptree flowers in woods on the Duke University campus in Durham, North Carolina, on April 15, 2012. A lone tree sets some seed, but more seeds fill when pollen comes from another tree.")
*Photo: Dcrjsr, [CC BY 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALiriodendron_tulipifera_3tulips.jpg))*

Large tree, 60 to 150 feet, zones 4 to 9; full sun or part shade; average ground.

We do not grow tuliptree, and it is not in our shop. This page gathers what our tools say about it and the natives we grow for the same ground.

## At a glance

| Fact | Tuliptree |
| --- | --- |
| Other names | Tulip poplar, yellow poplar, whitewood, blue-poplar, canoewood, canary whitewood, North American whitewood, lyre tree, saddle tree |
| Form | Large tree |
| Height, feet | 60 to 150 |
| Spread, feet | Up to 60 |
| Zones | 4 to 9 |
| Sun | Full sun or part shade |
| Soil moisture | Average ground |
| Growth | Fast |
| Leaves | Deciduous |
| Traits | Showy flowers, fall color, wildlife value, honey tree |
| Flowers | April to June |
| Fruit | Cones, August to November |
| First crop | 15 to 20 years (trees as young as 9 have borne fruit) |
| Pollination | One bears; a second improves the crop. Each flower carries both male and female parts, and a lone tree sets some seed from its own pollen, but more seeds fill when pollen comes from another tree. |
| Lifespan | Typically lives 200 years, and the oldest dated one reached 509. Only a tiny share of trees has ever been ring-counted or cross-dated. |
| Transplanting | The Morton Arboretum's page on tuliptree says: "As with all members of the Magnolia family, tuliptree’s fleshy root system prefers being transplanted in early spring, rather than autumn." |
| Planting season | Spring. UF/IFAS Extension adds that container trees can go in at any time in the South. |
| Black walnut | Tolerant, on the Morton Arboretum's list as “tulip tree” |
| Ground | Rich moist slopes, the Appalachians, stream banks and floodplain forests |
| Native in | 25 states and the District of Columbia |

Tuliptree is native in 25 states and the District of Columbia: [Alabama](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AL), [Arkansas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=AR), [Connecticut](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=CT), [Delaware](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DE), [Florida](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=FL), [Georgia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=GA), [Illinois](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IL), [Indiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IN), [Kentucky](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=KY), [Louisiana](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=LA), [Maryland](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MD), [Massachusetts](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MA), [Michigan](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MI), [Mississippi](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MS), [Missouri](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=MO), [New Jersey](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NJ), [New York](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NY), [North Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=NC), [Ohio](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=OH), [Pennsylvania](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=PA), [Rhode Island](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=RI), [South Carolina](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=SC), [Tennessee](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TN), [Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VA), [West Virginia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=WV) and [the District of Columbia](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=DC). The states are the USDA PLANTS Database's records, with the native range read from Silvics of North America and NatureServe Explorer. The USDA PLANTS Database also records it growing wild beyond that range in [Iowa](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=IA), [Texas](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=TX) and [Vermont](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/native/index.html.md?state=VT), where it is naturalized, not native.

## What our tools say

- [How fast it grows and how big it gets, by site](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/growth/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the growth estimator
- [Whether it suits your zone, sun and soil](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/site-check/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the planting-site check
- [How far from a house, wires and a septic field](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/distance/index.html.md?species=tuliptree&near=house,septic,pavement,wires,boundary,tree): the planting-distance tool
- [What grows with it in the wild and in a yard](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the companion species tool
- [When to plant it where you live](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/planting-window/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the planting-window tool
- [When it flowers and fruits, month by month](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/calendar/index.html.md?plants=tuliptree): the bloom and fruit calendar
- [How to sow its seed, with dates for your place](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/sowing/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the seed sowing planner
- [How many to plant for a crop of seed](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/pollination/index.html.md?plants=tuliptree:2): the pollination planner
- [Whether one you have can be moved, and what the move takes](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/transplant/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the transplant planner
- [How old one is, from its trunk](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/tree-age/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the tree age estimator
- [How a big one scores against the champion trees](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/big-tree/index.html.md?species=tuliptree): the big-tree measurer

## For the same ground, we grow

- [Yellow Buckeye](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/yellow-buckeye/index.html.md) (*Aesculus flava*): large tree, 50 to 75 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares rich moist slopes, the Appalachians, stream banks and floodplain forests in the wild.
- [American Beech](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/american-beech/index.html.md) (*Fagus grandifolia*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 3 to 9. Shares rich moist slopes, the Appalachians and floodplain forests in the wild.
- [Bitternut Hickory](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/bitternut-hickory/index.html.md) (*Carya cordiformis*): large tree, 50 to 80 feet, zones 4 to 9. Shares rich moist slopes, stream banks and floodplain forests in the wild.
- [Black Maple](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/black-maple/index.html.md) (*Acer nigrum*): large tree, 60 to 75 feet, zones 3 to 8. Shares rich moist slopes, stream banks and floodplain forests in the wild.
- [September Elm](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/september-elm/index.html.md) (*Ulmus serotina*): large tree, 60 to 70 feet, zones 4 to 8. Shares rich moist slopes, stream banks and floodplain forests in the wild.
- [Eastern Hemlock](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-hemlock/index.html.md) (*Tsuga canadensis*): large tree, 40 to 100 feet, zones 3 to 7. Shares rich moist slopes, the Appalachians and stream banks in the wild.
- [Every companion of tuliptree in the companion species tool](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/companions/index.html.md?species=tuliptree)

## Read from

Its figures come from Silvics of North America, NC State Extension, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Morton Arboretum, the Wildflower Center, the Forest Service's Fire Effects Information System, the Woody Plant Seed Manual, Virginia Tech's dendrology site, the USDA PLANTS Database, the US Forest Service and UF/IFAS Extension.