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Liriodendron chinense (Hemsl.) Sarg.

Modern name

Liriodendron chinense (Hemsl.) Sarg.

Synonyms

L. tulipifera var. chinense Hemsl.

Introduced to this country in 1901, this tree is perfectly hardy, and is growing admirably at Kew, where one of the original specimens is about 50 ft high. It was first noticed in China in 1875, in the Lushan Mountains, and was subsequently found by Henry, in Hupeh, at 3,000 to 6,000 ft altitude. Living plants were first introduced by Wilson for Messrs Veitch. It never appears to become so large as L. tulipifera. The leaves are of very much the same shape as those of the American species, having the same truncate apex and two lateral lobes; they are, however, narrower waisted, the sinus between the lobes being deeper and the midrib more prolonged. The flowers are smaller, the petals narrower and expanding more widely, and the fruit is more elongated. The apices of the carpels are not so acute, and not recurved as in the American tree. The leaves beneath, seen with a strong lens, are found to be covered with tiny warts (papillae). The trunk is much smoother than on the American tree. It flowered at Borde Hill, Sussex, in July 1927. It is easily grafted on seedlings of L. tulipifera.

There are two specimens at Kew, pl. 1908, measuring 50 × 334 ft and 40 × 3 ft (1967), and two at Borde Hill bought from Veitch’s Coombe Wood nursery in 1913, the dimensions of which are 56 × 512 ft (North Park Garden) and 68 × 414 ft (Little Bentley Wood). In Eire there is an example of 62 × 6 ft at Mount Usher, Co. Wicklow (1966).



From the Supplement (Vol. V)

This species is portrayed in Bot. Mag., n.s., t.843.

specimens: Kew, pl. 1908, near Pagoda, 52 × 4 ft (1979), Sundial Lawn, 75 × 412 ft (1985) and two others near Victoria Gate of the same age; Wakehurst Place, Sussex, 87 × 714 ft (1984); Borde Hill, Sussex, pl. 1913, North Park Garden, 85 × 8 ft (1984) and in Little Bentley Wood, 80 × 512 ft (1976); Ashford Chace; Hants, 80 × 734 ft (1979); Mount Usher, Co. Wicklow, Eire, 64 × 434 ft (1980); Abbeyleix, Co. Laois, Eire, 64 × 434 ft (1980).

At Kew there are also two young trees from a reintroduction from China in 1977. The fact that the trees at Kew from the Wilson introduction are so much smaller in girth than the tree at Borde Hill in North Park Garden, also an original and growing in shallow soil over sandstone, is probably a consequence of the lower rainfall.

Genus

Liriodendron

Other species in the genus