Yellow poplar

Friday
After several very overcast days, today the sun put in an appearance, so I got out to enjoy it with a good brisk walk around Sharon Woods. I caught sight of these beautiful flowers on a tree a little way off the path. I didn't know what it was, so when I got home, I googled it, and found it is a Yellow poplar or Tulip tree, due to the flower's resemblance to a tulip. Despite the name, poplar, it is not part of the poplar family, but rather part of the magnolia family.The Tulip tree is one of the largest of the native trees of the eastern United States, known to reach the height of 60 m (190 ft), though more usually about 20 to 30 m (70 to 100 ft). The flowers are large and quite striking, greenish yellow in colour, with dashes of red and orange. They do not droop from the spray but sit erect. One of the largest and most valuable hardwoods of eastern North America, it is native from Connecticut and southern New York, westward to southern Ontario and northern Ohio, and south to Louisiana and northern Florida. The tulip tree has impressed itself upon popular attention in many ways, and consequently has acquired many common names, including American tulip tree, Tuliptree, Tulip poplar, Whitewood and Fiddle-tree.
This evening we had another May Festival concert, this time Edward Elgar's Dream of Gerontius - an excellent performance of this large work. After the concert we went for a walk along to Fountain Square, watching the crews set up for Taste of Cincinnati which is on over the three-day weekend.