BALTIMORE — Baltimore has a new official tree — a true Maryland native, known for its height, climate resilience and yellow flowers.
The Tuliptree, Liriodendron tulipifera, also known as the tulip poplar, was unveiled as the latest municipal mascot on Thursday during TreeBaltimore’s Summer Gathering at Cylburn Arboretum. The Tuliptree replaces the Chanticleer pear, or Callery pear, which was chosen by Mayor William Donald Schaefer in 1974, according to a news release from the Baltimore City Department of Recreation and Parks.
The Chanticleer is one variety of Callery pear; Bradford is another, but Bradfords became so common that the name is sometimes used for the Callery, according to the University of Maryland Extension. The Callery pear is a prohibited species under Maryland law because it is invasive, according to the UMD.
If you don’t know the Callery pear by the sight of its white flowers which bloom in early spring, you might be familiar with its smell, often “likened to rotting fish and other unsavory odors,” North Carolina State University Extension said.
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