tulip tree

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. A tall, deciduous, eastern North American tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) having large, tuliplike green and orange flowers, aromatic twigs, and yellowish wood that is easily worked. Also called poplar.
2. n. See African tulip tree.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A tree, Liriodendron Tulipifera, found in North America, where, among deciduous trees, it is surpassed in size only by the sycamore (Platanus occidentalis) and the bald cypress (Taxodium distichum). A tree believed to be identical with it is found in China. The wood is soft, fine, and straight-grained, and is easily worked; it is used in construction and for inside finish, cabinet-work, pumps, woodenware, etc. The bark, especially of the root, is acrid and bitter, and is used domestically as a stimulant tonic. The tulip-tree is quite hardy, and is a much-admired shade and ornamental tree. Its timber, or the tree itself, is known as whitewood, though the wood turns yellowish on exposure, and as poplar, tulip-poplar, or yellow poplar. An old name, saddletree or saddle-leaf, refers to the form of the leaf; another, canoe-wood, to the use in which it was found among the Indians. The present name (the best of the common names) has reference to the flowers, which in form and size resemble a large tulip, the petals greenish-yellow marked with orange. See Liriodendron (with cut).
2. n. Michelia (Magnolia) fuscata.

Wiktionary

1. n. A North American tree, Liriodendron tulipfera, that has squarish leaves, cone-shaped fruit and an aromatic odour.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A West Indian malvaceous tree (Paritium tiliaceum syn. Hibiscus tiliaceum).

WordNet 3.0

1. n. tall North American deciduous timber tree having large tulip-shaped greenish yellow flowers and conelike fruit; yields soft white woods used especially for cabinet work