Leaf guide › Other hardwoods
Tulip tree
Liriodendron tulipifera
Clear butter-yellow leaves with a flat top, from one of the tallest trees in the East.
Updated
- Fall color
- Yellow
- Turns
- Mid-season
- Leaves
- Alternate (one per spot)
- Size
- 5–8 in. long
- Found in
- Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest
How to recognize it
- Four lobes with a flat or notched top, like a tulip in profile or a cat’s face.
- Smooth edges with no teeth.
- Long leaf stems let the leaves flutter.
- Tall, straight trunk with grooved gray bark.
Easy to confuse with
Maples
Maples have pointed tips on every lobe and grow leaves in pairs. The tulip tree’s squared-off top is unique.
Worth knowing
Also called yellow poplar, it isn’t a poplar at all but a member of the magnolia family. In the southern Appalachians it can top 150 feet. It’s the state tree of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana.
Common questions
What color does tulip tree turn in fall?
Tulip tree turns yellow in fall. Clear butter-yellow leaves with a flat top, from one of the tallest trees in the East.
When does tulip tree change color?
It usually colors in the middle of the local season, close to overall peak.
How can you tell tulip tree from maples?
Maples: Maples have pointed tips on every lobe and grow leaves in pairs. The tulip tree’s squared-off top is unique. Tulip tree: Four lobes with a flat or notched top, like a tulip in profile or a cat’s face.
Where does tulip tree grow?
In the lower 48, look for it in Appalachians, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest.
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