Soil and location: Requires a deep, moist soil.
Enemies: Comparatively free from insects and disease.
Value for planting: The tree has great value as a specimen on the lawn but is undesirable as a street tree because it requires considerable moisture and transplants with difficulty. It should be planted while young and where it can obtain plenty of light. It grows rapidly.
Commercial value: The wood is commercially known as whitewood and yellow poplar. It is light, soft, not strong and easily worked. It is used in construction, for interior finish of houses, woodenware and shingles. It has a medicinal value.
Other characters: The flower, shown in [Fig. 75], is greenish yellow in color, appears in May and resembles a tulip; hence the name tulip tree. The fruit is a cone.
Other common names: Whitewood; yellow poplar; poplar and tulip poplar.
Sweet Gum (Liquidambar styraciflua)
Fig. 75.—Leaf and Flower of the Tulip Tree.