Tulip Trees

Once in a while, I see something worth sharing on Facebook. This is from an account called Ancient Forests & Champion Trees:

The national champion Tulip Tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) in Bedford, Virginia. 



It boasts an amazing trunk circumference of 362 inches and stands at 139 feet tall, making this the overall largest of its kind in the United States.

Another giant known as the Fork Ridge Tulip Tree, located in the Great Smoky Mountains, North Carolina, measures an astonishing 191 feet 10 inches (58.47 m) tall, making it the tallest tulip tree ever recorded.

Tulip trees are among the tallest broadleaf trees in the eastern US. They have a long lifespan and can live for up to 450 years. Valued for their strong, straight-grained wood. They have unique tulip-like yellow-green flowers that give the tree its name. Its native range is from Ontario to Florida, from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Ocean. 

Photo by: Eric Wiseman and The Virginia Big Tree Program.

450 years! For comparison, red oaks live up to 200–250 years.

When they say the native range edges are the Mississippi River and Ontario... they don't really mean to include Minnesota. Ontario is a big province with parts that are south of Minnesota, and the north part of the Mississippi — which has its headwaters in northern Minnesota — is usually excluded from these kinds of descriptions. They really mean the state border created by the river, which starts south of here. 

The University of Minnesota says tulip trees "can be successful" here, probably especially in our warming climate, and particularly in the southern part of the state.

They are cool trees, though. I haven't seen many in person, and definitely never one anywhere close to this size.