Handbook of the Trees of New England

L >> Lorin Low Dame >> Handbook of the Trees of New England

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=Bark.=--Bark of trunk deep reddish-brown, deeply and firmly ridged in
old trees, in young trees greenish-gray, finely and irregularly striate,
the outer layer often curiously splitting, resembling a sort of filagree
work; branchlets reddish-brown, marked with warts of russet brown;
season's shoots at first minutely pubescent, in the fall more or less
mottled, bright yellowish-green.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Flower-buds conspicuous, terminal, ovate to
elliptical, the outer scales rather loose, more or less pubescent, the
inner glossy, pubescent; lateral buds much smaller. Leaves simple,
alternate, often opposite, 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide,
downy-tomentose when young, at maturity smooth, yellowish-green above,
lighter beneath, with midrib conspicuous and minutely hairy; outline of
two forms, one oval to oblong, entire, usually rounded at the apex,
wedge-shaped at base; the other oval to obovate, mitten-shaped or
3-lobed to about the center, with rounded sinuses; apex obtuse or
rounded; base wedge-shaped; leafstalk about 1 inch long; stipules none.

=Inflorescence.=--April or early May. Appearing with the leaves in
slender, bracted, greenish-yellow, corymbous racemes, from terminal buds
of the preceding season, sterile and fertile flowers on separate
trees,--sterile flowers with 9 stamens, each of the three inner with two
stalked orange-colored glands, anthers 4-celled, ovary abortive or
wanting: fertile flowers with 6 rudimentary stamens in one row; ovary
ovoid; style short.

=Fruit.=--Generally scanty, drupes, ovoid, deep blue, with club-shaped,
bright red stalk.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; adapted to a great
variety of soils, but prefers a stony, well-drained loam or gravel. Its
irregular masses of foliage, which color so brilliantly in the fall,
make it an extremely interesting tree in plantations, but it has always
been rare in nurseries and difficult to transplant; suckers, however,
can be moved readily. Propagated easily from seed.

[Illustration: PLATE LIV.--Sassafras officinale.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Branch with sterile flowers.
3. Sterile flower.
4. Branch with fertile flowers.
5. Fertile flower.
6. Fruiting branch.

HAMAMELIDACEAE. WITCH HAZEL FAMILY.

=Liquidambar Styraciflua, L.=

SWEET GUM.

=Habitat and Range.=--Low, wet soil, swamps, moist woods.

Connecticut,--restricted to the southwest corner of the state, not far
from the seacoast; Darien to Five Mile river, probably the northeastern
limit of its natural growth.

South to Florida; west to Missouri and Texas.

=Habit.=--Tree 40-60 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 10 inches to 2
feet, attaining a height of 150 feet and a diameter of 3-5 feet in the
Ohio and Mississippi valleys; trunk tall and straight; branches rather
small for the diameter and height of the tree, the lower mostly
horizontal or declining; branchlets beset with numerous short, rather
stout, curved twigs; head wide-spreading, ovoid or narrow-pyramidal,
symmetrical; conspicuous in summer by its deep green, shining foliage,
in autumn by the splendor of its coloring, and in winter by the
long-stemmed, globular fruit, which does not fall till spring.

=Bark.=--Trunk gray or grayish-brown, in old trees deeply furrowed and
broken up into rather small, thickish, loose scales; branches
brown-gray; branchlets with or without prominent corky ridges on the
upper side; young twigs yellowish.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate, reddish-brown, glossy, acute.
Leaves simple, alternate, regular, 3-4 inches in diameter, dark green
turning to reds, purples, and yellows in autumn, cut into the figure of
a star by 5-7 equal, pointed lobes, glandular-serrate, smooth, shining
on the upper surface, fragrant when bruised; base more or less
heart-shaped; stalk slender.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Developing from a bud of the season; sterile
flowers in an erect or spreading, cylindrical catkin; calyx none; petals
none, stamens many, intermixed with minute scales: fertile flowers
numerous, gathered in a long peduncled head; calyx consisting of fine
scales; corolla none; pistil with 2-celled ovary and 2 long styles.

=Fruit.=--In spherical, woody heads, about 1 inch in diameter, suspended
by a slender thread: a sort of aggregate fruit made up of the hardened,
coherent ovaries, holding on till spring, each containing one or two
perfect seeds.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy along the southern shores of New England;
grows in good wet or dry soils, preferring clays. Young plants are
tender in Massachusetts, but if protected a few seasons until well
established make hardy trees of medium size. It is offered by
nurserymen, but must be frequently transplanted to be moved with safety;
rate of growth rather slow and nearly uniform to maturity. Propagated
from seed.

[Illustration: PLATE LV.--Liquidambar styraciflua.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Sterile flower.
4. Fertile flower.
5. Fruiting branch.

PLATANACEAE. PLANE-TREE FAMILY.

=Platanus occidentalis, L.=

BUTTONWOOD. SYCAMORE. BUTTONBALL. PLANE TREE.

=Habitat and Range.=--Near streams, river bottoms, and low, damp woods.

Ontario.

Maine,--apparently restricted to York county; New Hampshire,--Merrimac
valley towards the coast; along the Connecticut as far as Walpole;
Vermont,--scattering along the river shores, quite abundant along the
Hoosac in Pownal (Eggleston); Massachusetts,--occasional; Rhode Island
and Connecticut,--rather common.

South to Florida; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A tree of the first magnitude, 50-100 feet and upwards in
height, with a diameter of 3-8 feet; reaching in the rich alluvium of
the Ohio and Mississippi valleys a maximum of 125 feet in height and a
diameter of 20 feet; the largest tree of the New England forest,
conspicuous by its great height, massive trunk and branches, and by its
magnificent, wide-spreading, dome-shaped or pyramidal, open head. The
sunlight, streaming through the large-leafed, rusty foliage, reveals the
curiously mottled patchwork bark; and the long-stemmed, globular fruit
swings to every breeze till spring comes again.

The lower branches are often very long and almost horizontal, and the
branchlets frequently have a tufted, broom-like appearance, due probably
to the action of a fungous disease on the young growth.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and large branches dark greenish-gray, sometimes
rough and closely adherent, but usually flaking off in broad, thin,
brittle scales, exposing the green or buff inner bark, which becomes
nearly white on exposure; branchlets light brown, sometimes ridgy
towards the ends, marked with numerous inconspicuous dots.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds short, ovate, obtuse, enclosed in the
swollen base of a petiole, and, after the fall of the leaf, encircled
by the leaf-scar. Leaves simple, alternate, 5-6 inches long, 7-10 wide,
pubescent on both sides when young, at maturity light rusty-green above,
light green beneath, finally smooth, turning yellow in autumn,
coriaceous; outline reniform; margin coarse-toothed or sinuate-lobed,
the short lobes ending in a sharp point; base heart-shaped to nearly
truncate; leafstalk 1-2 inches long, swollen at the base; stipules
sheathing, often united, forming a sort of ruffle.

=Inflorescence.=--May. In crowded spherical heads; flowers of both kinds
with insignificant calyx and corolla,--sterile heads from terminal or
lateral buds of the preceding season, on short and pendulous stems;
stamens few, usually 4, anthers 2-celled: fertile heads from shoots of
the season, on long, slender stems, made up of closely compacted ovate
ovaries with intermingled scales, ovaries surmounted by hairy one-sided
recurved styles, with bright red stigmas.

=Fruit.=--In heads, mostly solitary, about 1 inch in diameter,
persistent till spring: nutlets small, hairy, 1-seeded.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a deep,
rich, loamy soil near water, but grows in almost any situation; of more
rapid growth than almost any other native tree, and formerly planted
freely in ornamental grounds and on streets, but fungous diseases
disfigure it so seriously, and the late frosts so often kill the young
leaves that it is now seldom obtainable in nurseries; usually propagated
from seed. The European plane, now largely grown in some nurseries, is a
suitable substitute.

[Illustration: PLATE LVI.--Platanus occidentalis.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch with sterile and fertile heads.
3. Stamen.
4. Pistil.
5. Fruiting branch.
6. Stipule.
7. Bud with enclosing base of leafstalk.

POMACEAE. APPLE FAMILY.

Trees or shrubs; leaves simple or pinnate, mostly alternate, with
stipules free from the leafstalk and usually soon falling; flowers
regular, perfect; calyx 5-lobed; calyx-tube adnate to ovary; petals 5,
inserted on the disk which lines the calyx-tube; stamens usually many,
distinct, inserted with the petals; carpels of the ovary 1-5, partially
or entirely united with each other; ovules 1-2 in each carpel; styles
1-5; fruit a fleshy pome, often berry-like or drupe-like, formed by
consolidation of the carpels with the calyx-tube.

PYRUS. MALUS. AMELANCHIER. CRATAEGUS.

=Pyrus Americana, DC.=

_Sorbus Americana, Marsh._

MOUNTAIN ASH.

=Habitat and Range.=--River banks, cool woods, swamps, and mountains.

Newfoundland to Manitoba.

Maine,--common; New Hampshire,--common along the watersheds of the
Connecticut and Merrimac rivers and on the slopes of the White
mountains; Vermont,--abundant far up the slopes of the Green mountains;
Massachusetts,--Graylock, Wachusett, Watatic, and other mountainous
regions; rare eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--occasional in the
northern sections.

South, in cold swamps and along the mountains to North Carolina;
west to Michigan and Minnesota.

=Habit.=--A small tree, 15-20 feet high, often attaining in the woods of
northern Maine and on the slopes of the White mountains a height of
25-30 feet, with a trunk diameter of 12-15 inches; reduced at its
extreme altitudes to a low shrub; head, in open ground, pyramidal or
roundish; branches spreading and slender.

=Bark.=--Closely resembling bark of _P. sambucifolia_.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.,=--Buds more or less scythe-shaped, acute,
smooth, glutinous. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; stem grooved,
enlarged at base, reddish-brown above; stipules deciduous; leaflets
11-19, 2-4 inches long, bright green above, paler beneath, smooth,
narrow-oblong or lanceolate, the terminal often elliptical, finely and
sharply serrate above the base; apex acuminate; base roundish to acute
and unequally sided; sessile or nearly so, except in the odd leaflet.

=Inflorescence.=--In terminal, densely compound, large and flattish
cymes; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5, white, roundish, short-clawed; stamens
numerous; ovary inferior; styles 3.

=Fruit.=--Round, bright red, about the size of a pea, lasting into
winter.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a good,
well-drained soil; rate of growth slow and nearly uniform. It is readily
transplanted and would be useful on the borders of woods, in plantations
of low trees, and in seaside exposures. Rare in nurseries and seldom for
sale by collectors. The readily obtainable and more showy European _P.
aucuparia_ is to be preferred for ornamental purposes.

[Illustration: PLATE LVII.--Pyrus Americana.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.
4. Petal.
5. Fruiting branch.

=Pyrus sambucifolia, Cham. & Schlecht.=

_Sorbus sambucifolia, R[oe]m._

MOUNTAIN ASH.

=Habitat and Range.=--Mountain slopes, cool woods, along the shores of
rivers and ponds, often associated with _P. Americana_, but climbing
higher up the mountains.

From Labrador and Nova Scotia west to the Rocky mountains, then
northward along the mountain ranges to Alaska.

Maine,--abundant in Aroostook county, Piscataquis county, Somerset
county at least north to the Moose river, along the boundary mountains,
about the Rangeley lakes and locally on Mount Desert Island; New
Hampshire,--in the White mountain region; Vermont,--Mt. Mansfield,
Willoughby mountain (Pringle); undoubtedly in other sections of these
states; to be looked for along the edges of deep, cool swamps and at
considerable elevations.

South of New England, probably only as an escape from cultivation;
west through the northern tier of states to the Rocky mountains,
thence northward along the mountain ranges to Alaska and south to
New Mexico and California.

=Habit.=--A shrub 3-10 feet high, or small tree rising to a height of
15-25 feet, reaching its maximum in northern New England, where it
occasionally attains a height of 30-35 feet, with a trunk diameter of 15
inches. It forms an open, wide-spreading, pyramidal or roundish head,
resembling the preceding species in the color of bark, in foliage and
fruit. Whether these are two distinct species is at the present
problematical, as there are many intermediate forms, and the same tree
sometimes furnishes specimens that would indubitably be referred to
different species.

=Bark.=--On old trees light brown and roughish on the trunk, separating
into small scales curling up on one side; large limbs light-colored,
smoothish, often conspicuously marked with coarse horizontal blotches
and leaf-scars; season's shoots light brown, smooth, silvery dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Terminal bud 1 inch long, lateral 1/2 inch,
appressed, brownish, scythe-shaped, acute, more or less glutinous.
Leaves pinnately compound, alternate, stems grooved and reddish above,
enlarged at base; stipules deciduous; leaflets 7-15, the odd one
stalked, 1-3 inches long, 1/2-1 inch wide, bright green above, paler
beneath, smooth, mostly ovate-oblong, serrate above the base; apex
rounded or more usually tapering suddenly to a short point, or rarely
acuminate; base inequilateral.

=Inflorescence.=--In broad, compound cymes at the ends of the branches;
flowers white and rather larger than those of _P. Americanus_; calyx
5-lobed; petals 5, ovate, short-clawed; stamens numerous; pistil
3-styled.

=Fruit.=--In broad cymes; berries bright red, roundish, rather larger
than those of _P. Americana_, holding on till winter.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in New England, though of shrub-like
proportions in the southern sections; grows in exposed situations
inland, and along the seashore. The dwarf habit, graceful foliage, and
showy fruit give it an especial value in artificial plantations; but it
is seldom for sale in nurseries and only occasionally by collectors. It
is readily transplanted and is propagated by seed.

=Note.=--In the European mountain ash, _P. aucuparia_, the leaves have a
blunter apex than is usually found in either of the American species,
and have a more decided tendency to double serration.

[Illustration: PLATE LVIII.--Pyrus sambucifolia.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.
4. Fruiting branch.

=Pyrus communis, L.=

PEAR TREE.

The common pear, introduced from Europe; a frequent escape from
cultivation throughout New England and elsewhere; becomes scraggly and
shrubby in a wild state.

=Pyrus Malus, L.=

_Malus Malus, Britton_.

APPLE TREE.

The common apple; introduced from Europe; a more or less frequent escape
wherever extensively cultivated, like the pear showing a tendency in a
wild state to reversion.

=Amelanchier Canadensis, Medic.=

SHADBUSH. JUNE-BERRY.

=Habitat and Range.=--Dry, open woods, hillsides.

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Lake Superior.

New England,--throughout.

South to the Gulf of Mexico; west to Minnesota, Kansas, and
Louisiana.

=Habit.=--Shrub or small tree, 10-25 feet high, with a trunk diameter of
6-10 inches, reaching sometimes a height of 40 feet and trunk diameter
of 18 inches; head rather wide-spreading, slender-branched, open;
conspicuous in early spring, while other trees are yet naked, by its
profuse display of loose spreading clusters of white flowers, and the
delicate tints of the silky opening foliage.

=Bark.=--Trunk and large branches greenish-gray, smooth; branchlets
purplish-brown, smooth.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, oblong-conical, pointed. Leaves
2-3-1/2 inches long, about half as wide, slightly pubescent when young,
dark bluish-green above at maturity, lighter beneath; outline varying
from ovate to obovate, finely and sharply serrate; apex pointed or
mucronate, often abruptly so; base somewhat heart-shaped or rounded;
leafstalk about 1 inch long; stipules slender, silky, ciliate, soon
falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Appearing with the leaves at the end of
the branchlets in long, loose, spreading or drooping, nearly glabrous
racemes; flowers large; calyx 5-cleft, campanulate, pubescent to nearly
glabrous; segments lanceolate, acute, reflexed; petals 5, whole,
narrow-oblong or oblong-spatulate, about 1 inch long, two to three times
the length of the calyx; stamens numerous: ovary with style deeply
5-parted.

=Fruit.=--June to July. In drooping racemes, globose, passing through
various colors to reddish, purplish, or black purple, long-stemmed,
sweet and edible without decided flavor.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in all soils
and situations except in wet lands, but prefers deep, rich, moist loam;
very irregular in its habit of growth, sometimes forming a shrub, at
other times a slender, unsymmetrical tree, and again a symmetrical tree
with well-defined trunk. Its beautiful flowers, clean growth, attractive
fruit and autumn foliage make it a desirable plant in landscape
plantations where it can be grouped with other trees. Occasionally in
nurseries; procurable from collectors.

[Illustration: PLATE LIX.--Amelanchier Canadensis.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.
4. Fruiting branch.

CRATAEGUS.

A revision of genus _Crataegus_ has long been a desideratum with
botanists. The present year has added numerous new species, most of
which must be regarded as provisional until sufficient time has elapsed
to note more carefully the limits of variation in previously existing
species and to eliminate possible hybrids. During the present period of
uncertainty it seems best to exclude most of the new species from the
manuals until their status has been satisfactorily established by
raising plants from the seed, or by prolonged observation over wide
areas.

=Crataegus Crus-Galli, L.=

COCKSPUR THORN.

Rich soils, edge of swamps.

Quebec to Manitoba.

Found sparingly in western Vermont (_Flora of Vermont_, 1900); southern
Connecticut (C. H. Bissell).

South to Georgia; west to Iowa.

A small tree, 10-25 feet in height and 6-12 inches in trunk diameter;
best distinguished by its thorns and leaves.

Thorns numerous, straight, long (2-4 inches), slender; leaves thick,
smooth, dark green, shining on the upper surface, pale beneath, turning
dark orange red in autumn; outline obovate-oblanceolate, serrate above,
entire or nearly so near base; apex acute or rounded; base decidedly
wedge-shaped shaped; leafstalks short.

Fruit globose or very slightly pear-shaped, remaining on the tree
throughout the winter.

Hardy throughout southern New England; used frequently for a hedge
plant.

=Crataegus punctata, Jacq.=

Thickets, hillsides, borders of forests.

Quebec and Ontario.

Small tree, common in Vermont (Brainerd) and occasional in the other New
England states.

South to Georgia.

Thorns 1-2 inches long, sometimes branched; leaves 1-2-1/2 inches long,
smooth on the upper surface, finally smooth and dull beneath; outline
obovate, toothed or slightly lobed above, entire or nearly so beneath,
short-pointed or somewhat obtuse at the apex, wedge-shaped at base;
leafstalk slender, 1-2 inches long; calyx lobes linear, entire; fruit
large, red or yellow.

=Crataegus coccinea, L.=

In view of the fact of great variation in the bark, leaves,
inflorescence, and fruit of plants that have all passed in this country
as _C. coccinea_, and in view of the further uncertainty as to the plant
on which the species was originally founded, it seems "best to consider
the specimen in the Linnaean herbarium as the type of _C. coccinea_ which
can be described as follows:

"Leaves elliptical or on vigorous shoots mostly semiorbicular,
acute or acuminate, divided above the middle into numerous acute
coarsely glandular-serrate lobes, cuneate and finely
glandular-serrate below the middle and often quite entire toward
the base, with slender midribs and remote primary veins arcuate
and running to the points of the lobes, at the flowering time
membranaceous, coated on the upper surface and along the upper
surface of the midribs and veins with short soft white hairs, at
maturity thick, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous on the upper
surface, paler on the lower surface, glabrous or nearly so, 1-1/2-2
inches long and 1-1-1/2 inches wide, with slender glandular
petioles 3/4-1 inch long, slightly grooved on the upper surface,
often dark red toward the base, and like the young branchlets
villous with pale soft hairs; stipules lanceolate to oblanceolate,
conspicuously glandular-serrate with dark red glands, 1/2-3/4 inch
long. Flowers 1/2-3/4 inch in diameter when fully expanded, in
broad, many-flowered, compound tomentose cymes; bracts and
bractlets linear-lanceolate, coarsely glandular-serrate, caducous;
calyx tomentose, the lobes lanceolate, glandular-serrate, nearly
glabrous or tomentose, persistent, wide-spreading or erect on the
fruit, dark red above at the base; stamens 10; anthers yellow;
styles 3 or 4. Fruit subglobose, occasionally rather longer than
broad, dark crimson, marked with scattered dark dots, about 1/2
inch in diameter, with thin, sweet, dry yellow flesh; nutlets 3 or
4, about 1/4 inch long, conspicuously ridged on the back with high
grooved ridges.

"A low, bushy tree, occasionally 20 feet in height with a short
trunk 8-10 inches in diameter, or more frequently shrubby and
forming wide dense thickets, and with stout more or less zigzag
branches bright chestnut brown and lustrous during their first
year, ashy-gray during their second season and armed with many
stout, chestnut-brown, straight or curved spines 1-1-1/2 inches
long. Flowers late in May. Fruit ripens and falls toward the end of
October, usually after the leaves.

"Slopes of hills and the high banks of salt marshes usually in
rich, well-drained soil, Essex county, Massachusetts, John
Robinson, 1900; Gerrish island, Maine, J. G. Jack, 1899-1900;
Brunswick, Maine, Miss Kate Furbish, May, 1899; Newfoundland, A. C.
Waghorne, 1894."[1]

[Footnote 1: Prof. C. S. Sargent in _Bot. Gaz._, XXXI, 12. By permission
of the publishers.]

=Crataegus mollis, Scheele.=

_Crataegus subvillosa, Schr. Crataegus coccinea,_ var. _mollis, T. & G._

THORN.

=Habitat and Range.=--Bordering on low lands and along streams.

Provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,--as far north as Mattawamkeag on the middle Penobscot, Dover on
the Piscataquis, and Orono on the lower Penobscot; reported also from
southern sections; Vermont,--Charlotte (Hosford); Massachusetts,--in the
eastern part infrequent; no stations reported in the other New England
states.

South to Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Texas; west to Michigan and
Missouri.

=Habit.=--Shrub or often a small tree, 20-30 feet high, with trunk 6-12
inches in diameter, often with numerous suckers; branches at 4-6 feet
from the ground, at an acute angle with the stem, lower often horizontal
or declining; head spreading, widest at base, spray short, angular, and
bushy; thorns slender, 1-3 inches long, straight or slightly recurved.

=Bark.=--Bark of the whole tree, except the ultimate shoots, light gray,
on the trunk and larger branches separating lengthwise into thin narrow
plates, in old trees dark gray and more or less shreddy; season's shoots
reddish or yellowish-brown, glossy.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, ovate, reddish-brown, shining;
scales broad, glandular-edged. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-5 inches
long, light green above, lighter beneath, broad-ovate to
broad-elliptical; rather regularly and slightly incised with fine,
glandular-tipped teeth; apex acute; base wedge-shaped, truncate, or
subcordate; roughish above and slightly pubescent beneath, especially
along the veins; leaf-stalk pubescent; stipules linear,
glandular-edged, deciduous.

=Inflorescence.=--May to June. In cymes from the season's growth;
flowers white, 3/4 inch broad, ill-smelling; calyx lobes 5, often
incised, pubescent; petals roundish; stamens indefinite, styles 3-5;
flower stems pubescent; bracts glandular.

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