1. A large N. American tree, Liriodendron Tulipifera (N.O. Magnoliaceæ), bearing flowers resembling large tulips, of a greenish color variegated with yellow and orange; also called tulip poplar, saddle-tree (from the shape of its peculiar truncated leaves), and whitewood.
1705. Beverley, Virginia, II. iv. § 18 (1722), 123. The large Tulip-Tree, which we call a Poplar.
1800. Med. Jrnl., IV. 376. The leaves and roots of the tulip tree,… recommended as an useful bitter.
a. 1849. Poe, Landor’s Cottage, Wks. 1849, II. The shingles were painted a dull gray; and the happiness with which this neutral tint melted into the vivid green of the tulip-tree leaves that partially overshadowed the cottage, can readily be conceived by an artist.
1857. Gosse, Omphalos, vii. 165. This noble Tulip-tree…, a giant of this primeval forest.
b. Applied to other trees with tulip-like flowers, as species of Magnolia, and the mountain mahoc (Paritium elatum or Hibiscus elatus, N.O. Malvaceæ of the West Indies.
1751. J. Hill, Hist. Plants, 487. The great-flowered Magnolia, the Laurel-leaved Tulip-tree.
1884. Miller, Plant-n., Tulip-tree, Chinese, Magnolia fuscata.
2. Applied in Australia to two proteaceous trees with brilliantly colored flowers: a. A Victorian and Tasmanian species of Waratah, Telopea orcades, also called native tulip (see TULIP 1 b); b. Stenocarpus cunninghami, of Queensland.
1830. Hobart Town Almanack, 66 (Morris). That magnificent shrub called warratah or tulip-tree, and its beautiful scarlet flowers.
1835. Ross, Hobart Town Almanack, 110. The generic name [Telopea] … has been corrupted into tulip tree, to which it bears not the least resemblance.
1866. Treas. Bot., Tulip-tree, Queensland, Stenocarpus Cunninghami.
1898. Morris, Austral English, Tulip-tree. The name is given, in Australia, to Stenocarpus cunninghamii,… on account of the brilliancy of its bright-red flowers.
