ˈtulip-tree
1. A large N. American tree, Liriodendron Tulipifera (N.O. Magnoliaceæ), bearing flowers resembling large tulips of a greenish colour 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. 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 mahoe (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 coloured 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. |