=Remarks.=--The cucumber tree has been too rare in Indiana to be of
economic importance. The greatest interest with us is its distribution.
The uses of the wood are similar to that of tulip with which it is
botanically related. It is said that the greater part of the lumber
which is produced in the south is sold as tulip. The seeds of this tree
are extremely bitter and no bird, squirrel or mouse will carry or touch
them. However, man after macerating them in whisky can use them for
medicine.
=2. LIRIODÈNDRON.= The Tulip Tree.
=Liriodendron Tulipífera= Linnæus. Tulip. Yellow Poplar. Plate 67. Large
trees with deeply furrowed grayish bark; twigs glabrous and glaucous at
first, becoming reddish-brown by the end of the season, then gray or
dark brown; leaves very variable, 4-6 lobed, average blades 5-12 cm.
long, truncate and notched at the apex, more or less rounded, truncate
or cordate at the base, glabrous above and below at maturity or with a
few hairs on the veins beneath; flowers appear in May or June, large
bell-shaped, about 4 cm. deep, greenish-yellow, sometimes tinged with
orange-red; fruit upright, cone-shaped, 5-7 cm. long; wood light, weak,
soft, stiff, straight and moderately coarse-grained, seasons and works
well. Sap wood white, heart wood a light yellow.
=Distribution.=--Vermont, southern Ontario, southern Michigan, south to
Florida and west to Arkansas and Missouri. Found throughout Indiana, and
doubtless is found in every county. It is rare to infrequent in most of
the counties north of the Wabash River. It gradually becomes more
frequent toward the south and where its habitat is found it is frequent
to common. It prefers a moist rich well drained soil and thrives best in
protected coves and near the lower part of slopes of hills. It is found
with beech, sugar maple and white oak. It is rarely found in a black
loam soil, but prefers a sandy soil. It was generally a common tree and
of very large size in practically all of the counties in the southern
two-thirds of the State.
=Remarks.=--This tree is generally known by botanists as tulip tree. By
lumbermen it is usually known as yellow poplar, or more often shortened
to poplar. It is also known as blue, white and hickory poplar, or as
white wood. The tulip tree is the second largest tree of Indiana. In the
Ind. Geol. Rept. 6:70:1875, is the following: "I measured four poplar
trees that stood within a few feet of each other; the largest was
thirty-eight feet in circumference three feet from the ground, one
hundred and twenty feet high, and about sixty-five feet to the first
limb. The others were, respectively eighteen and a half, eighteen and
seventeen feet in circumference at three feet from the ground." The
range of the uses of the wood is not so great as the oak, but it has
many uses. The demand has been so great that practically all of the
large trees have been cut. Small trees have so much sap or white wood
that they are not sought for lumber, but can be used for pulp and
excelsior.
[Illustration: Plate 67.