poplar

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POPLAR

Liriodendron tulipifera
Liriodendron tulipifera of the family Magnoliaceae (the magnolia family)

NOTE: the wood on this page is NOT actually "poplar", it is American tulip / "yellow poplar" / "tulip poplar".
In putting this wood here with this name, I am following popular usage. See the box below for
a further discussion. On this site, for the wood that actually IS poplar, see COTTONWOOD

A note on the confusion among the names "cottonwood" / "poplar" / "tulip poplar" / "yellow poplar" / "American tulip"
When people in the USA say "poplar" they PROBABLY mean "tulip poplar" / "yellow poplar" which is NOT actually poplar at all even though the common name designates it as poplar. True poplar (what should, to avoid confusion, be called cottonwood) is Populus spp. of the family Salicaceae) but some people DO call cottonwood by the name "poplar" despite the confusion so it is sometimes hard to tell which one a person is talking about, especially since some people are not aware of the confusion.

"Tulip poplar", "yellow poplar", and "American tulip" are all names for Liriodendron tulipifera of the family Magnoliaceae. "yellow poplar" and "tulip poplar" are the most commonly used names for Liriodendron tulipifera in the USA, AFTER the use of "poplar" itself, which is the MOST common designation for Liriodendron tulipifera even though, strictly speaking, that's the wrong designation. On this site, I list Liriodendron tulipifera as "poplar", following common useage, and I list the ACTUAL poplar as "cottonwood"

I personally think that the most logical thing to do would be to call Populus spp. "poplar" and Liriodendron tulipifera "tulip/tulipwood" (or "American tulip" to avoid confusion with Brazilian tulipwood) but as always, I don't get to make the rules, I just try to report on reality as accurately as I can.

To add to the confusion, one of the USA common names for Liriodendron tulipifera is "basswood" but the name "basswood" in the USA more commonly refers to Tilia spp. (which is also called "lime" and "lindon"). FURTHER, another USA common name for Liriodendron tulipifera is canary/canarywood, but those names more often refer, in the USA, to the South American wood Centrolobium spp.). Then just to make it all more interesting, many of the Populus species that are the wood normally called "aspen" ALL also have the names poplar and/or cottonwood or both as part of one or more of their other common names.

I COULD continue this trail of confusion until you felt that your eyeballs had been twisted into a knot, but I will spare you. This is the joy of common wood names.

In addition to the confusion among names, the woods called cottonwood and the woods called poplar, even though totally unrelated (other than both being woods) are often very hard to tell apart, even including the end grain.

This is a relatively soft wood and is very widely used in the hidden parts of furniture because it is very stable, easy to work with and inexpensive to obtain.

The burl of this "poplar" is called mappa and has its own page on this site: mappa

RAINBOW POPLAR
This wood takes on mineral stain more that any other wood I am
aware of and I've accumulated enough pics of the particular form
of that stain known as "rainbow" poplar to have its own page
rainbow poplar

my samples:
NOTE: these pics were all taken in very bright incandescent lighting ("soft white" at 2700K)
colors will vary under other lighting conditions

poplar exposure series --- a small plank and a piece of veneer, both with some green in them. Over time these were exposed to light with half of each covered and the rest exposed. The first pic is the raw baseline and the 2nd pic shows the exposure after 6 months. To see the complete series, click here: green poplar exposure series As you can see just from these two shots, the green turns to brown over time.

sample plank and end grain sold to me as yellow poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera --- pics are just a bit too green and in particular the cream-colored part is shown as having a green tint which it does not really have. The darker green color is mineral stain

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

both sides of a sample plank of yellow poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. I note that the vendor of the sample has it as "wavy-grain" which I think is an incorrect description. It does have an extremely light curl but that is NOT WAVY GRAIN. I also note that this piece has the green mineral stain that is so common in this species.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

both sides of a sample plank of yellow poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by David Clark whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

both sides of a piece of blistered tulip poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera --- HUGE enlargements are present. This sample was loaned to me by Mark Peet whom I thank for this and other contributions to the site. Note that the first face was sanded to 240 grit and the second face was not. The first side is still green whereas the second side is mostly sapwood with a patina and what heartwood there is has turned brown. The "blister" is a very weak figure.

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

flat cut plank --- both levels of enlargement are present

planks, all with some degree of green mineral stain --- both levels of enlargement are present

misc planks all shot at a lumber yard --- both levels of enlargement are present

more planks shot at a lumber yard --- very large enlargements are available for both

planks shot at a lumber yard --- HUGE enlargements are present.

planks shot at LOWES at various times --- very large enlargements are available for all of them

planks shot at Lowes and a closeup --- the bubble appearance of the surface in the 2nd enlargement of the closeup is NOT a wood figure, it is tiny bits of wood brought up by the planer; this is a VERY big enlargement!

flat cut plank with mineral stain, and a closeup

two planks with green mineral stain and a closeup of the pair

mineral stained plank shot at a wood store. HUGE enlargements are present.

planks shot at a lumber yard to show the green color --- the 2nd and 3rd shots are two ends of the same long flat cut plank. The green in these pics may appear to be exaggerated. It is not (although it was taken with a flash).

yellow poplar sample plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the sample plank directly above

plank and end grain

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

plank and end grain

end grain closeup (upside down) and END GRAIN UPDATE of the piece directly above

both sides of a couple of little chunks of yellow poplar sent to me for identification by Charlie Van Dyke. Charlie noticed the strong yellowish green color and not being familiar with poplar wondered just what he had. One side of each still has the brown patina and the other side is fresh sanded, as are the ends.

end grains of both pieces

end grain closeup of both pieces

END GRAIN UPDATE of both pieces

small bowl blank and end grain closeup

both sides of a plank I specifically selected for the green color (the pics are a little too orange) --- enlargements are there and the pic on the right shows a particularly good view of the grain

more planks, also with some green --- these are tulip poplar

green mineral stain in a tulip poplar plank shot at a lumber yard

lumber yard shot of tulip poplar planks, showing how common it is to find various mineral stain in this wood, especially the green colored stain.

both sides of a tulip poplar plank that I picked up at a lumber yard because of the deep green color. It is shown here with a piece of purpleheart above it and a piece of canary wood below it just to give some contrast to show how accurate the color is.

closeup of the piece directly above

the same plank as above after having been wrapped in dark paper for many years. As you can see, it has retained the green color nicely but it has darkened just a bit to a slightly more olive green.

first face and the end grain of a sample of tulip poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION B

the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep. As discussed in the link provided, it would not surprise me to find that this sample was made 100 years ago, and yet when cut into it is clear that the green-to-brown transition, which happens when tulip poplar starts off with a green mineral stain, is only on the surface. This is totally consistent with many other samples I've had.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

first face and the end grain of a sample of tulip poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION A. As discussed in the link provided, it would not surprise me to find that this sample was made 100 years ago, and yet when cut into it is clear that the green-to-brown transition, which happens when tulip poplar starts off with a green mineral stain, is only on the surface. This is totally consistent with many other samples I've had.

the second face, before and after slicing off 1/8" showing how the patina from aging is only surface deep.

end grain closeup and END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above.

small piece of poplar and the END GRAIN UPDATE of it --- don't know why the end grain has those wavy color variations

clear veneer with no green

a darker piece of veneer with some green at one edge and a very fuzzy demarcation between the green and the white

a very common type of poplar veneer (planks look like this too, for that matter), with a portion that is a generally uniform green. These pieces have a pretty clear demarcation between the green and white, but that isn't always the case.

a wide piece of veneer with green running through the middle

poplar veneer --- totally green sections cut from wider sheets that included white and brown areas

two 12" long sections of poplar veneer with a light green color (which will fade to brown over time). Huge enlargements are present.

veneer sheet and closeup --- color is accurate

yellow poplar veneer --- this is distinctly more yellow than normal poplar (but it is NOT a bright banana yellow --- the color shown here is accurate)

poplar veneer with some curl showing --- it is just slightly more pronounced than what shows up in this pic

NOTE: the color range on poplar is large, with many shades of cream, brown and green existing in the same plank. To give some indication of this range, I've included here a variety of shots from a large veneer selection. Totally cream and totally green sections are well covered above, so here I've concentrated on brown and mixed green-brown

veneer

veneer samples of poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera --- HUGE enlargements are present. This part of a collection which is discussed here: COLLECTION D. The older piece was probably green (in color) 20 years ago.

burl veneer

plank (and a closeup) chosen for the strong green color and the purple stain. This one doesn't have enough color variety to make it to the "rainbow" designation, but it is the same kind of mineral stain.

another area of the same plank (and a closeup) as directly above --- on this end of the plank, the green had turned lighter as you can see

planks and closeup

planks and closeup --- the mineral stains are of the type that create "rainbow" poplar but in this case they have not gotten variegated, just a single color in each plank

both sides of a small plank that has mineral stain (cut from the middle one above)

end grain and end grain closeup of the piece directly above

END GRAIN UPDATE from directly above

planks and closeup

plank and end grain --- this is a small piece cut from one that had a pretty uniform light green color that is captured accurately here.

end grain closeup of the piece directly above

burl veneer submitted by Neal Kuwabara who rightly points out that my mystery wood #103 looks almost exactly like this. I find the purple tint very unlikely and forgot to ask Neal about it.

The Wood Book pics

flat cut (this is a bit weird-looking for flat cut yellow poplar), quartersawn, end grain
yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera, also listed as tulip-tree, whitewood, and canoe-wood) from The Wood Book --- enlargement available for each of the 3 views

web pics:

flat cut, quartersawn, and end grain

large (78" top to bottom) log end listed as yellow poplar / Liriodendron tulipifera, showing the mineral stain that is so prevalent in this species. HUGE enlargements are present

planks with wet and dry sections; the first two are flat cut and the last one, listed as whitewood / Liriodendron tulipifera, is rift cut.

planks

plank listed as American poplar (which is what they call tulip poplar in Europe)

slab with pith flaw and the kind of mineral stain that makes rainbow poplar, although not as much color as some

plank listed as Italian black poplar (which, if correctly labeled, is Populus deltoides, which means it should be on the cottonwood page of this site)

bowl blanks

turning stock

burl --- I am familiar with "mappa" burl, which comes from the black poplar tree, but this is the first I've seen of any other burl attributed to poplar.

veneer with some green

veneer

"turtleback" veneer --- I've never seen anything like this myself, I just present it here as I found it.

all labeled yellow poplar, the first three being planks and the last being veneer, but the color in the first three looks much too golden in my admittedly limited experience (and the veneer doesn't look quite yellow ENOUGH to me)

"gray" poplar veneer

spalted poplar

book matched burl with very suspect color

bowls

yellow poplar bowl

tulip poplar bowls turned and photographed by Tom Pleatman, whom I thank for these pics and other contributions to the site. Big enlargements are present.

bowl listed as a tulip poplar root burl

heart-shaped paddle, created by Dave Bush (thanks for the pic Dave) who reports that this "angel-step" type figure was only present in a few small planks and he's never seen it since. This paddle is about 6"x10".

door

bowl (there is a slight chance that this is cottonwood, not tulip poplar)

bowls

spalted bowl

two views of a bowl that is spalted and has mineral stain

vase