Dec 28 2011 The tuliptree (Liriodendron tulipifera) is easy to
identify by its leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds but more of
challenge when you’re limited to twigs and bark. In early
winter, look up and you’ll find the tree dotted with upright,
drying fruits shaped like flowers. Each one is a seed cluster of
samaras attached at the base of the “flower.” As time passes,
the fruits dry and the samaras blow away from the tree or fall
to the ground below. They look like rounded skis with a lump at
the toe. In the absence of these clues examine the twigs, trunk
and bark. The reddish-brown twigs are less than 1/2 inch thick
and have alternate leaf buds with a single large end bud shaped
like a duck’s bill. This shape is your big clue that it’s a
tuliptree. I’ve read that this bud encloses the nascent leaves
until the frosts are past, then the leaves unfurl like wings.
Also notice the stipule scar that surrounds the twig where the
leaf used to be. I’ve seen both reddish-dark-gray and deep-red
end buds in Schenley Pa