After three daily clues, several readers made the correct identification of this week’s Pennsylvania Mystery Species.
The species we were looking for was the tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera), which also is known as the tulip poplar and the yellow polar.
It’s one of the largest native hardwood trees of the eastern U.S., regularly growing to 80-100 feet in height. Some particularly gargantuan tulip poplars stand more than 150 feet tall and have trunks of seven-foot diameter.
The leaves of the tulip tree, which are shaped like the outline of a tulip flower, turn yellow in the fall.
Among the first readers to supply the correct identification were Ian Cohen, Harrisburg; Bryan S. Hackenburg, a central Pennsylvania native now living in Magnolia, Del.; David Miller, Middletown; John Emminger; Cindy O'Hora, Shamokin Dam; David Hehemann; Deb Leidich, Harrisburg; and Scott Dobak,