Our mystery samaras last week were (as Sara suggested) from a tulip tree, Liriodendron tulipifera.
(Photograph in the public domain by P.Gibellini at Wikimedia)
The scientific species name means “tulip bearing” and refers to the stunning yellow and orange cup-shaped flowers…
although I have often thought the leaves look a bit like tulips, too.
Tulip trees are large, beautiful deciduous natives to the East Coast of North America.
They are so popular that they are the state tree of Kentucky, Tennessee and Indiana.
Have you ever seen a tulip tree flowering? What do you think of them?
