Among the tallest deciduous trees native to the forests of the easterly United States , both the American sycamore ( Platanus occidentalis ) and the tulip poplar tree ( Liriodendron tulipifera ) are prized by gardener as formal shade trees . They do possess different features and growth tolerances that can make the pick between their selection for use in a landscape promiscuous . One commonalty is that they are grown across the same USDA wintertime hardiness zones : 4 through 9 .

Native Range

Both the sycamore and tulip poplar hail from roughly the same natural distribution across the eastern United States . They broadly range from the shores of the southern Great Lakes eastward to Maine and south to northernmost Florida and westwards to the Mississippi River Valley . A key difference in the aboriginal stove is that the western edge for the tulip poplar tree is a line from around Chicago to Memphis , Tenn. , and Baton Rouge , La. , while that of the sycamore extends from Des Moines , Iowa to Oklahoma City , Okla. , and Austin , Texas .

Size

The sycamore tree diagram typically grow 75 to 100 foot improbable with width of 65 to 90 feet and the tulip poplar tree touch a ripe height 70 to 120 feet tall with breadth of only 35 to 50 foot wide . Therefore , a more spacious landscape is needed to accommodate the more broadly - reaching canopy outgrowth of a Ficus sycomorus tree . According to the U.S. Forest Service , the mulberry fig ’s torso farm to a large diameter than any other North American hardwood tree diagram .

Growth Characteristics

The American great maple is a fast - uprise tree , with a singular body any many crooked , powerful branches that spread up and outwards to form a rather round canopy . The U.S. Forest Service regards it as a " jazz steadfast " tree diagram because of its all-encompassing , cryptic root system . In contrast , the tulip poplar tree is distinctively pyramid - the likes of when young with dense branching and then with age becomes a tall tree with a straight torso and high offset . Overall , its canopy is upright oval but with down curving , irregular branches .

Ornamental Features

Once you see the bark of an American lacewood , you ’ll belike never bury it . In winter the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ’s structure is ghostly ashen to beige . Upon closer inspection of the tree trunk you will see a flaking , mottle barque in colour of olive - green , tan , brown and gray - white . Its leaves are maple - the like in shape with wide , point lobe that turn tan and yellowed in autumn . great maple yield are rotund glob with flyspeck prickles .

Tulip tree diagram bark is medium and scant hoar and vertically furrowed – attractive but subtly so . The leave are blanket and oval but have four spreading gunpoint that make it resemble a tiddler ’s draft of a tulip flower . In late spring the tulip - same yellow - unripened and orange bloom are found on branch tips high in the canopy . In autumn the leaf turn warm prosperous yellow . The fruit of the tulip poplar look like cone that are favourable browned and persist across wintertime .

Tolerances

Both the sycamore and tulip poplar tree grow best in deep , fertile soils that are dampish but well - draining . The tulip poplar is much more sore to drought than the sycamore . Avoid imbed tulip poplar in landscapes that are hot and wry . The mulberry fig demonstrates more tolerance of heat and drought precondition , as well as salty soils such as those find near beaches or in urban surface area .

References

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