鹅掌楸（Liriodendron chinense（Hemsl.）Sarg.）星散分布于长江流域以南海拔450～1800ｍ阔叶林中。依其自然地理区域，鹅掌楸在我国西部，从北由大巴山，经武陵山、大娄山，伸向云贵高原东部，形成一条东北．西南走向分布带，在东部和中南部，有５个各自以中、低山为中心，被平原相间隔的“岛”状分布。较大种群多分布在我国西部。与北美鹅掌楸（L. tulipifera L.）在北美洲的分布相比，鹅掌楸为星散间断分布，天然更新不良，在自然群落中多为偶见种。中国东部和西部鹅掌楸在形态上存在较明显的差别，西部种群在花被片颜色，叶片裂片变化及同工酶等方面表现出与北美鹅掌楸有更多的相似特性。因而推论，现存鹅掌楸属的这两个对应种，在地史上是通过欧洲及大西洋陆桥建立联系的 。

Liriodendron chinense (Hemsl. ) Sarg. grows in the southern area of Yangtze River watershed.It covers a large geographical range between 22°37′and 32°38′N latitudes and 103°15′and 120°17'E longitude and is usually scattered in montane broad-leaved evergreen forests at 450-1 800 m alt. Geographically, in the western part of China its distribution area is running from Dabieshan in the north through Wulingshan and Daloushan extending to the east of Yungui plateau. In addition, there are five isolated mountainous distribution areas surrounded by plains in both the east and the south of central China. L. chinense  often occurs as different populations of small numbers, especially in the ,eastern China several populations often have only a few individuals respectively. Compared with L. tulipfern it is characterized by scattered distribution, poor regeneration, and accidental appearance in the natural forest community. Morphologically, there are some differences between the eastern populations and the western ones. The authors found those populations in the western China are surprisedly similar in some way to L. tulipifera while those populations in the eastern China do not appear in such way. Isozyme band pattern data also support this idea. Thus, the authors suppose these populations of L. chinense in the western China may be existed with certain connection westwart through Europe to yellow poplar. Furthermore, based on Steenis, the authors claim that the distribution area of L. chinense was probably in touchwith that of L. tulipfera through Atlantic continental bridge in certain geological period.