One of the easier trees to pick out while walking through the hardwood forests of the Appalachians, the tulip poplar has distinctive tulip-blossom shaped leaves and a large and extremely showy flower that we’ve been finding, usually in pieces, along the footpath after a rain.
These trees grow as far south as Central Florida, with the southernmost stands of tulip poplars found at Spring Hammock Preserve in Longwood and Wekiwa Springs State Park in Apopka. Here’s a closeup of a tulip poplar bloom.
