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Liriodendron chinense
Also called Chinese Tulip Tree, Chinese Whitewood, Chinese Tulip Poplar
Liriodendron chinense is a large deciduous tree from central and southern China and northern Vietnam, closely related to the American tulip tree and grown as an ornamental and street tree in temperate regions. It is a tree for open ground, not a houseplant, and needs space to reach its full height of about 40 metres.
Liriodendron chinense (commonly known as the Chinese tulip poplar, Chinese tulip tree or Chinese whitewood) is Asia's native species in the genus Liriodendron. This native of central and southern China grows in the provinces of Anhui, Guangxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guizhou, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Sichuan and Yunnan, and also locally in northern Vietnam. Protected populations occur in the Tianmushan National Reserve [1], Huangshan [2], Wuyi Shan [3], and Badagongshan Nature Reserve [4].
It is not as hardy as the American species, but is cultivated on other continents as an ornamental tree. It is grown in England (where there are many at Kew Gardens), Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. In North America, it grows as far north as Boston, Massachusetts, in the east, and Vancouver, British Columbia, in the west. It is a street tree at the University of Victoria and along the Veterans' Memorial Parkway in Langford, British Columbia. A plantation of it is at the National Arboretum in Canberra. In cultivation it grows as fast as the American tulip tree. A cultivar (J.C.Raulston) with leaves larger and darker than typical has been developed in North Carolina.
In the United Kingdom L. chinense has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Liriodendron chinense by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
