Maybe wild plant guidebooks and others that delve into ethnobotany. Indians living among them might have developed some ideas about the towering trees with the funny leaves.

Other than that,

"It stands for "fame" in the Language of Flowers and its flowers mean "rural happiness."

--A.L. Jacobson, TREES OF SEATTLE - SECOND EDITION

According to John Tan Miller's book 'A Good Time', there was reference to the 18th century wilderness writings of Jacque DeMiller. One writing described of rain falling from a tulip poplar on a cloudless day, after the chief of the cherokee tribe drowned in a river.

Perhaps a reason for this is that this continent has not been inhabited for so long as Europe. The native Americans arrvied here only ca 11,000 years ago, and whatever oral traditions these peoples had may not have been all preserved. I suspect only a small portion were.

--Spruce

Quoting from the book "Tree & Shrub Gardening for Michigan" by Tim Wood and Alison Beck: " The genus name Liriodendron comes from the Greek and means "lily tree".