Which tree has yellow flowers? Region first, then the flower shape

East and Midwest: golden rain tree, tulip tree, golden chain

Golden rain tree is the yellow tree of high summer. NC State's profile describes upright panicles 12 to 15 inches long of bright yellow, star-shaped flowers half an inch wide with red centers, blooming in July; fallen flowers make a golden carpet beneath. The fruit settles it from August to October: papery, three-sided capsules 1.5 to 2 inches long, like small Chinese lanterns, turning from green to yellow to light brown. The leaves are feather-like, 6 to 18 inches long, with deeply lobed leaflets near the base. NC State notes that it seeds itself easily and is on the National Park Service Mid-Atlantic Exotic Plant Management Team's invasive plant list.

Tulip tree (tulip poplar) blooms in May and early June, but the flowers are easy to miss. The NC State profile describes upright, cup-shaped flowers 1.5 to 2 inches long, with six green-to-yellow petals and an orange band near the base, opening high in the crown after the leaves are full grown; many people first notice them when petals fall. Confirm with the leaf: four lobes and a broad, squared-off tip, unlike any other eastern tree. Tulip trees reach 80 to 120 feet.

Golden chain tree is the answer to "yellow flowers hanging down". NC State's common laburnum profile describes sweet-scented, pea-like yellow flowers densely packed in hanging clusters 4 to 10 inches long in May and June, on a small tree to 30 feet with leaves of three leaflets 1 to 3 inches long. It dislikes the heat and humidity of the Deep South. NC State rates its poison severity as high and lists all parts as poisonous, with the seeds, which contain the alkaloid cytisine, as the main concern. Note that NC State also lists "golden rain tree" as one of laburnum's common names: hanging flowers mean laburnum, upright sprays mean Koelreuteria.

Early spring in the East: small yellow flowers before the leaves

Three trees bloom yellow in early spring with flowers so small that the tree reads as a yellow-green haze.

• Cornelian cherry, a planted dogwood, has small yellow flowers in clusters from late March to early April, according to NC State's Cornelian cherry profile. The leaves that follow are opposite, glossy and smooth-edged; the bark is flaky and scaly.
• Sassafras carries 2-inch clusters of greenish-yellow flowers with no petals before its leaves, from March to May, with male and female flowers on separate trees, per NC State's sassafras profile. Its leaves come in three shapes on one tree: oval, mitten-shaped and three-lobed, and young twigs smell spicy when broken.
• Norway maple flowers yellow-green in spring before its leaves, and NC State's Norway maple profile calls it one of the most floriferous maples. Break a leaf stalk later in the season: milky sap confirms it. NC State notes it has been labeled invasive in several northeastern states. Other maples are on the maple page.

Black locust is sometimes searched as a yellow-flowered tree, but its hanging pea flowers are white or cream; see trees with white flowers and the locust page.

Texas: huisache, retama and mesquite

In Texas, most yellow-flowering trees are thorny legumes with finely divided leaves, so check the thorns and the flower shape together.

Huisache has round, fragrant puff-balls. Texas A&M Forest Service's Trees of Texas describes bright orange-gold flowers in spherical clusters up to 0.75 inch across in spring, very fragrant, on feather-like leaves 1 to 4 inches long with minute leaflets, and a pair of straight thorns up to 2 inches long at the base of each leaf. It is widespread in South Texas. The Forest Service adds that its flowers were once collected for French perfume.

Retama (Jerusalem-thorn) is the one with green twigs. Its Trees of Texas entry gives showy clusters of yellow-orange, five-petaled flowers about half an inch long in warm spring weather or after rains, twigs and branches that stay distinctly green up to 2 inches thick, thorns up to 1 inch, and long, strap-like leaf stalks 8 to 16 inches long whose tiny leaflets often drop. It grows throughout South and southwest Texas, especially along the Rio Grande.

Honey mesquite has yellow flower spikes, not balls. The Forest Service's mesquite entry describes cylindrical spikes 2 to 4 inches long of small yellow flowers in spring or early summer, then pods 4 to 9 inches long, on a thorny tree found across Texas, though rarely in East Texas. For its thorns, see trees with thorns.

The desert Southwest: palo verde, yellow flowers and green bark

Blue palo verde answers "yellow flowers and green bark". University of Arizona Extension's Yavapai County plant profile describes bluish-green bark, bright yellow flowers, leaflets under a quarter inch long and flat seed pods, on a tree 20 to 40 feet tall that grows along dry washes. The University of Arizona Campus Arboretum's tree of the week adds that it is native to the Sonoran Desert, that its green stems perform photosynthesis, that the flowers are small, five-petaled and pea-like, and that it drops all its leaves in dry periods.

Florida: golden trumpet, golden shower and sweet acacia

Golden trumpet tree puts on its main show in spring. UF/IFAS's fact sheet describes bright yellow, trumpet-shaped flowers in dense clusters 2.5 to 8 inches long at the branch tips, at their heaviest in April and May while the leaves are briefly down. The leaves are divided into five leaflets about 4 inches long, silvery above and tan and fuzzy beneath, and hairy brown pods about 8 inches long follow. It grows in USDA zones 10A to 11.

Golden shower hangs its flowers. UF/IFAS's fact sheet describes thick hanging clusters 8 to 18 inches long of yellow flowers on slightly drooping branches, from spring to early summer and again in early fall, followed by dark brown, cylindrical pods about 2 feet long that stay on the tree through winter. UF/IFAS states that the seeds inside are poisonous. It grows in zones 10B to 11.

Sweet acacia is the Florida name for the same species as huisache, and UF/IFAS lists it as native. Its fact sheet describes very fragrant, bright yellow puff-like flowers mainly in late winter, then sporadically through the year, on a thorny shrub or small tree 15 to 25 feet tall.

How to tell them apart in the field

1. How are the flowers held? Hanging chains: golden chain or golden shower. Upright sprays: golden rain tree. Balls: huisache or sweet acacia. Spikes: mesquite. Single cups high up: tulip tree. Trumpets: golden trumpet tree.
2. Thorns? Huisache, mesquite and retama have them; the eastern trees do not.
3. Bark color. Green or bluish-green: palo verde or retama.
4. Leaf. Four lobes with a flat tip: tulip tree. Three leaflets: golden chain. Mittens: sassafras.

A photo while it is in bloom

Take one photo that shows a flower cluster and a leaf together. Tree Identifier names a tree from one photo; tulip tree and sassafras are in its Collection, and it also names trees outside it, such as palo verde. It shows no confidence score, so check the answer against the flower shape and thorns above, and use the follow-up chat to ask, for example, how retama differs from palo verde. Its Toxicology notes are AI-written: for seeds and pods, ask a local expert.