Handbook of the Trees of New England

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

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=Fruit.=--In long racemes, drooping or pendent; the keys, which are
smaller than those of any other American maple, set on hair-like
pedicels, and at a wide but not constant angle; at length reddish, with
a small cavity upon one side.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in cultivation throughout New England;
prefers moist, well-drained, gravelly loam in partial shade, but grows
well in any good soil; easily transplanted, but recovers its vigor
rather slowly; foliage free from disease.

Seldom grown in nurseries, but readily obtainable from northern
collectors of native plants.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXV.--Acer spicatum.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Sterile flower.
4. Abortive ovary in sterile flower.
5. Fertile flower with part of the perianth and stamens removed.
6. Fruiting branch.

=Acer Pennsylvanicum, L.=

STRIPED MAPLE. MOOSEWOOD. WHISTLEWOOD.

=Habitat and Range.=--Cool, rocky or sandy woods.

Nova Scotia to Lake Superior.

Maine,--abundant, especially northward in the forests; New Hampshire and
Vermont,--common in highland woods; Massachusetts,--common in the
western and central sections, rare towards the coast; Rhode
Island,--frequent northward; Connecticut,--frequent, reported as far
south as Cheshire (New Haven county).

South on shaded mountain slopes and in deep ravines to Georgia;
west to Minnesota.

=Habit.=--Shrub or small tree, 15-25 feet high, with a diameter at the
ground of 5-8 inches; characterized by a slender, beautifully striate
trunk and straight branches; by the roseate flush of the opening
foliage, deepening later to a yellowish-green; and by the long,
graceful, pendent racemes of yellowish flowers, succeeded by the
abundant, drooping fruit.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and branches deep reddish-brown or dark green,
conspicuously striped longitudinally with pale and blackish bands;
roughish with light buff, irregular dots; the younger branches marked
with oval leaf-scars and the linear scars of the leaf-scales; the
season's shoots smooth, light green, mottled with black.

In spring the bark of the small branches is easily separable, giving
rise to the name "whistle wood."

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Terminal bud long, short-stalked, obscurely
4-sided, tapering to a blunt tip; lateral buds small and flat; opening
foliage roseate. Leaves simple, opposite; 5-6 inches long and nearly as
broad; the upper leaves much narrower; when fully grown light green
above, paler beneath, finally nearly glabrous, yellow in autumn, divided
above the center into three deep acuminate lobes, finely, sharply, and
usually doubly serrate; base heart-shaped, truncate, or rounded;
leafstalks 1-3 inches long, grooved, the enlarged base including the
leaf-buds of the next season.

=Inflorescence.=--In simple, drooping racemes, often 5-6 inches long,
appearing after the leaves in late May or early June; the sterile and
fertile flowers mostly in separate racemes on the same tree; the
bell-shaped flowers on slender pedicels; petals and sepals
greenish-yellow; sepals narrowly oblong, somewhat shorter than the
obovate petals; stamens usually 8, shorter than the petals in the
sterile flower, rudimentary in the fertile, the pistil abortive or none
in the sterile flower, in the fertile terminating in a recurved
stigma.

=Fruit.=--In long, drooping racemes of pale green keys, set at a wide
but not uniform angle; distinguished from the other maples, except _A.
spicatum_, by a small cavity in the side of each key; abundant; ripening
in August.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy, under favorable conditions, throughout
New England. Prefers a rich, moist soil near water, in shade; but grows
well in almost any soil when once established, many young plants failing
to start into vigorous growth. Occasionally grown by nurserymen, but
more readily obtainable from northern collectors of native plants.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXVI.--Acer Pennsylvanicum.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Sterile flower.
4. Fertile flower with part of the perianth removed.
5. Fruiting branch.

=Acer Negundo, L.=

_Negundo aceroides, Moench. Negundo Negundo, Karst._

BOX ELDER. ASH-LEAVED MAPLE.

=Habitat and Range.=--In deep, moist soil; river valleys and borders of
swamps.

Infrequent from eastern Ontario to Lake of the Woods; abundant from
Manitoba westward to the Rocky mountains south of 55 deg. north
latitude.

Maine,--along the St. John and its tributaries, especially in the French
villages, the commonest roadside tree, brought in from the wild state
according to the people there; thoroughly established young trees,
originating from planted specimens, in various parts of the state; New
Hampshire,--occasional along the Connecticut, abundant at Walpole;
extending northward as far as South Charlestown (W. F. Flint _in lit._);
Vermont,--shores of the Winooski river and of Lake Champlain;
Connecticut,--banks of the Housatonic river at New Milford, Cornwall
Bridge, and Lime Rock station.

South to Florida; west to the Rocky and Wahsatch mountains,
reaching its greatest size in the river bottoms of the Ohio and its
tributaries.

=Habit.=--A small but handsome tree, 30-40 feet high, with a diameter of
1-2 feet. Trunk separating at a small height, occasionally a foot or two
from the ground, into several wide-spreading branches, forming a broad,
roundish, open head, characterized by lively green branchlets and
foliage, delicate flowers and abundant, long, loose racemes of
yellowish-green keys hanging till late autumn, the stems clinging
throughout the winter.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk when young, smooth, yellowish-green, in old trees
becoming grayish-brown and ridgy; smaller branchlets greenish-yellow;
season's shoots pale green or sometimes reddish-purple, smooth and
shining or sometimes glaucous.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, ovate, enclosed in two dull-red,
minutely pubescent scales. Leaves pinnately compound, opposite; leaflets
usually 3, sometimes 5 or 7, 2-4 inches long, 1-1/2-2-1/2 inches broad,
light green above, paler beneath and woolly when opening, slightly
pubescent at maturity, ovate or oval, irregularly and remotely
coarse-toothed mostly above the middle, 3-lobed or nearly entire; apex
acute; base extremely variable; veins prominent; petioles 2-3 inches
long, enlarging at the base, leaving, when they fall, conspicuous
leaf-scars which unite at an angle midway between the winter buds.

=Inflorescence.=--April 1-15. Flowers appearing at the ends of the
preceding year's shoots as the leaf-buds begin to open, small,
greenish-yellow; sterile and fertile on separate trees,--the sterile in
clusters, on long, hairy, drooping, thread-like stems; the calyx hairy,
5-lobed, with about 5 hairy-stemmed, much-projecting linear anthers;
pistil none: the fertile in delicate, pendent racemes, scarcely
distinguishable at a distance from the foliage; ovary pubescent, rising
out of the calyx; styles long, divergent; stamens none.

=Fruit.=--Loose, pendent, greenish-yellow racemes, 6-8 inches long, the
slender-pediceled keys joined at a wide angle, broadest and often
somewhat wavy near the extremity, dropping in late autumn from the
reddish stems, which hang on till spring.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; flourishes best in
moist soil near running water or on rocky slopes, but accommodates
itself to almost any situation; easily transplanted. Plants of the same
age are apt to vary so much in size and habit as to make them unsuitable
for street planting.

An attractive tree when young, especially when laden with fruit in the
fall. There are several horticultural varieties with colored foliage,
some of which are occasionally offered in nurseries. A western form,
having the new growth covered with a glaucous bloom, is said to be
longer-lived and more healthy than the type.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXVII.--Acer Negundo.]

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

TILIACEAE. LINDEN FAMILY.

=Tilia Americana, L.=

BASSWOOD. LINDEN. LIME. WHITEWOOD.

=Habitat and Range.=--In rich woods and loamy soils.

Southern Canada from New Brunswick to Lake Winnipeg.

Throughout New England, frequent from the seacoast to altitudes of 1000
feet; rare from 1000 to 2000 feet.

South along the mountains to Georgia; west to Kansas, Nebraska, and
Texas.

=Habit.=--A large tree, 5O-75 feet high, rising in the upper valley of
the Connecticut river to the height of 100 feet; trunk 2-4 feet in
diameter, erect, diminishing but slightly to the branching point; head,
in favorable situations, broadly ovate to oval, rather compact,
symmetrical; branches mostly straight, striking out in different trees
at varying angles; the numerous secondary branches mostly horizontal,
slender, often drooping at the extremities, repeatedly subdividing,
forming a dense spray set at broad angles. Foliage very abundant, green
when fully grown, almost impervious to sunlight; the small creamy
flowers in numerous clusters; the pale, odd-shaped bracts and pea-like
fruit conspicuous among the leaves till late autumn.

=Bark.=--Dark gray, very thick, smooth in young trees, later becoming
broadly and firmly ridged; in old trees irregularly furrowed; branches,
especially upon the upper side, dark brown and blackish; the season's
shoots yellowish-green to reddish-brown, and numerously rough-dotted.
The inner bark is fibrous and tough.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Leaf-buds small, conical, brownish red,
contrasting strongly with the dark stems. Leaves simple, alternate, 4-5
inches long, three-fourths as wide, green and smooth on both sides,
thickish, paler beneath, broad-ovate, one-sided, serrate, the point
often incurved; apex acuminate or acute; base heart-shaped to truncate;
midrib and veins conspicuous on the under surface with minute, reddish
tufts of down at the angles; stems smooth, 1-1-1/2 inches long; stipules
soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--Late June or early July. In loose, slightly fragrant,
drooping cymes, the peduncle attached about half its length to a
narrowly oblong, yellowish bract, obtuse at both ends, free at the top,
and tapering slightly at the base, pedicels slender; calyx of 5 colored
sepals united toward the base; corolla of 5 petals alternate with the
sepals, often obscurely toothed at the apex; 5 petal-like scales in
front of the petals and nearly as long; calyx, petals, and scales
yellowish-white; stamens indefinite, mostly in clusters inserted with
the scales; anthers 2-celled, ovary 5-celled; style 1; stigma 5-toothed.

=Fruit.=--About the size of a pea, woody, globose, pale green, 1-celled
by abortion: 1-2 seeds.

=Horticultural Value.=--Useful as an ornamental or street tree; hardy
throughout New England, easily transplanted, and grows rapidly in almost
any well-drained soil; comes into leaf late and drops its foliage in
early fall. The European species are more common in nurseries. They are,
however, seriously affected by wood borers, while the native tree has
few disfiguring insect enemies. Usually propagated from the seed. A
horticultural form with weeping branches is sometimes cultivated.

=Note.=--There is so close a resemblance between the lindens that it is
difficult to distinguish the American species from each other, or from
their European relatives.

American species sometimes found in cultivation:

_Tilia pubescens, Ait._, is distinguished from _Americana_ by its
smaller, thinner leaves and densely pubescent shoots.

_Tilia heterophylla, Vent._, is easily recognized by the pale or silver
white under-surface of the leaves.

There are several European species more or less common in cultivation,
indiscriminately known in nurseries as _Tilia Europaea_. They are all
easily distinguished from the American species by the absence of
petal-like scales.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXVIII.--Tilia Americana.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower enlarged.
4. Pistil with cluster of stamens, petaloid scale, petal, and sepal.
5. Fruiting branch.

CORNACEAE. DOGWOOD FAMILY.

=Cornus florida, L.=

FLOWERING DOGWOOD. BOXWOOD.

=Habitat and Range.=--Woodlands, rocky hillsides, moist, gravelly
ridges.

Provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,--Fayette Ridge, Kennebec county; New Hampshire,--along the
Atlantic coast and very near the Connecticut river, rarely farther north
than its junction with the West river; Vermont,--southern and
southwestern sections, rare; Massachusetts,--occasional throughout the
state, common in the Connecticut river valley, frequent eastward; Rhode
Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Florida; west to Minnesota and Texas.

=Habit.=--A small tree, 15-30 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 6-10
inches. The spreading branches form an open, roundish head, the young
twigs curving upwards at their extremities. In spring, when decked with
its abundant, showy white blossoms, it is the fairest of the minor trees
of the forest; in autumn, scarcely less beautiful in the rich reds of
its foliage and fruit.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in old trees blackish, broken-ridged, rough,
often separating into small, firm, 4-angled or roundish plates; branches
grayish, streaked with white lines; season's twigs purplish-green,
downy; taste bitter.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Terminal leaf-buds narrowly conical, acute;
flower-buds spherical or vertically flattened, grayish. Leaves simple,
opposite, 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, dark green above, whitish
beneath, turning to reds, purples, and yellows in the autumn, ovate to
oval, nearly smooth, with minute appressed pubescence on both surfaces;
apex pointed; base acutish; veins distinctly indented above, ribs
curving upward and parallel; leafstalk short-grooved.

=Inflorescence.=--May to June. Appearing with the unfolding leaves in
close clusters at the ends of the branches, each cluster subtended by
a very conspicuous 4-leafed involucre (often mistaken for the corolla
and constituting all the beauty of the blossom), the leaves of which are
white or pinkish, 1-1/2 inches long, obovate, curiously notched at the
rounded end. The real flowers are insignificant, suggesting the tubular
disk flowers of the Compositae; calyx-tube coherent with the ovary,
surmounting it by 4 small teeth; petals greenish-yellow, oblong,
reflexed; stamens 4; pistil with capitate style.

=Fruit.=--Ovoid, scarlet drupes, about 1/2 inch long, united in
clusters, persistent till late autumn or till eaten by the birds.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in southern and southern-central New
England, but liable farther north to be killed outright or as far down
as the surface of the snow; not only one of the most attractive small
trees on account of its flowers, habit, and foliage, but one of the most
useful for shady places or under tall trees. The species, a
red-flowering and also a weeping variety are obtainable in leading
nurseries. Collected plants can be made to succeed. It is a plant of
rather slow growth.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXIX.--Cornus florida.]

1. Leaf-buds.
2. Flower-buds.
3. Flowering branch.
4. Flower.
5. Fruiting branch.

=Cornus alternifolia, L. f.=

DOGWOOD. GREEN OSIER.

=Habitat and Range.=--Hillsides, open woods and copses, borders of
streams and swamps.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick along the valley of the St. Lawrence
river to the western shores of Lake Superior.

Common throughout New England.

South to Georgia and Alabama; west to Minnesota.

=Habit.=--A shrub or small tree, 6-20 feet high, trunk diameter 3-6
inches; head usually widest near the top, flat; branches nearly
horizontal with lateral spray, the lively green, dense foliage lying in
broad planes.

=Bark.=--Trunk and larger branches greenish, warty, streaked with gray;
season's shoots bright yellowish-green or purplish, oblong-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, acute. Leaves simple, alternate
or sometimes opposite, clustered at the ends of the branchlets, 2-4
inches long, dark green on the upper side, paler beneath, with minute
appressed pubescence on both sides, ovate to oval, almost entire; apex
long-pointed; base acutish or rounded; veins indented above, ribs
curving upward and parallel; petiole long, slender, and grooved.

=Inflorescence.=--June. From shoots of the season, in irregular open
cymes; calyx coherent with ovary, surmounting it by 4 minute teeth;
corolla white or pale yellow, with the 4 oblong petals at length
reflexed: stamens 4, exserted; style short, with capitate stigma.

=Fruit.=--October. Globular, blue or blue black, on slender, reddish
stems.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England, adapting itself to
a great variety of situations, but preferring a soil that is constantly
moist. Nursery or good collected plants are easily transplanted. A
disease, similar in its effect to the pear blight, so often disfigures
it that it is not desirable for use in important plantations.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXX.--Cornus alternifolia.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Flowering branch.
3. Flower with one petal and two stamens removed, side view.
4. Flower, view from above.
5. Fruiting branch.

=Nyssa sylvatica, Marsh.=

TUPELO. SOUR GUM. PEPPERIDGE.

=Habitat and Range.=--In rich, moist soil, in swamps and on the borders
of rivers and ponds.

Ontario.

Maine,--Waterville on the Kennebec, the most northern station
yet reported (Dr. Ezekiel Holmes); New Hampshire,--most
common in the Merrimac valley, seldom seen north of the White
mountains; Vermont,--occasional; Massachusetts, Rhode Island,
and Connecticut,--rather common.

South to Florida; west to Michigan, Missouri, and Texas.

=Habit.=--Tree 20-50 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-2 feet,
rising in the forest to the height of 60-80 feet; attaining greater
dimensions farther south; lower branches horizontal or declining, often
touching the ground at their tips, the upper horizontal or slightly
rising, angular, repeatedly subdividing; branchlets very numerous, short
and stiff, making a flat spray; head extremely variable, unique in
picturesqueness of outline; usually broad-spreading, flat-topped or
somewhat rounded; often reduced in Nantucket and upon the southern shore
of Cape Cod to a shrub or small tree of 10-15 feet in height, forming
low, dense, tangled thickets. Foliage very abundant, dark lustrous
green, turning early in the fall to a brilliant crimson.

=Bark.=--Trunk of young trees grayish-white, with irregular and shallow
striations, in old trees darker, breaking up into somewhat hexagonal or
lozenge-shaped scales; branches smooth and brown; season's shoots
reddish-green, with a few minute dots.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovoid, 1/8-1/4 inch long, obtuse. Leaves
simple, irregularly alternate, often apparently whorled when clustered
at the ends of the shoots, 2-5 inches long, one-half as wide; at first
bright green beneath, dullish-green above, becoming dark glossy green
above, paler beneath, obovate or oblanceolate to oval; entire, few or
obscurely toothed, or wavy-margined above the center; apex more or less
abruptly acute; base acutish; firm, smooth, finely sub-veined; stem
short, flat, grooved, minutely ciliate, at least when young; stipules
none.

=Inflorescence.=--May or early June. Appearing with the leaves in
axillary clusters of small greenish flowers, sterile and fertile usually
on separate trees, sometimes on the same tree,--sterile flowers in
simple or compound clusters; calyx minutely 5-parted, petals 5, small or
wanting; stamens 5-12, inserted on the outside of a disk; pistil none:
fertile flowers larger, solitary, or several sessile in a bracted
cluster; petals 5, small or wanting; calyx minutely 5-toothed.

=Fruit.=--Drupes 1-several, ovoid, blue black, about 1/2 inch long,
sour: stone striated lengthwise.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; adapts itself
readily to most situations but prefers deep soil near water. Seldom
offered in nurseries and difficult to transplant unless frequently
root-pruned or moved; collected plants do not thrive well; seedlings are
raised with little difficulty. Few trees are of greater ornamental
value.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXI.--Nyssa sylvatica.]

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

EBENACEAE. EBONY FAMILY.

=Diospyros Virginiana, L.=

PERSIMMON.

=Habitat and Range.=--Rhode Island,--occasional but doubtfully native;
Connecticut,--at Lighthouse Point, New Haven, near the East Haven
boundary line, there is a grove consisting of about one hundred
twenty-five small trees not more than a hundred feet from the water's
edge, in sandy soil just above the beach grass, exposed to the
buffeting of fierce winds and the incursions of salt water, which comes
up around them during the heavy winter storms. These trees are not in
thriving condition; several are dead or dying, and no new plants are
springing up to take their places. A cross-section of the trunk of a
dead tree, as large as any of those living, shows about fifty annual
rings. There is no reason to suppose that the survivors are older. This
station is said to have been known as early as 1846, at which date the
ground where they stand was grassy and fertile. These trees, if standing
at that time, must assuredly have been in their infancy. The
encroachment of the sea and subsequent change of conditions account well
enough for the present decrepitude, but their general similarity in size
and apparent age point rather to introduction than native growth.

South to Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana; west to Iowa, Kansas, and
Texas.

=Habit.=--One of the Rhode Island trees measured 3 feet 11 inches girth
at the base, and gradually tapered to a height of more than 40 feet (L.
W. Russell). The trees at New Haven are 15-20 feet in height, with a
trunk diameter of 6-10 inches, trunk and limbs much twisted by the
winds. Their branches, beginning to put out at a height of 6-8 feet, lie
in almost horizontal planes, forming a roundish, open head.

=Bark.=--Trunk in old trees dark, rough, deeply furrowed, separating
into small, firm sections; large limbs dark reddish-brown; season's
shoots green, turning to brown.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds oblong, conical, short. Leaves simple,
alternate, 3-6 inches long, about half as wide, dark green and mostly
glossy above, somewhat lighter and minutely downy (at least when young)
beneath, ovate to oval, entire; apex acute to acuminate; base acute,
rounded or truncate; leafstalk short; stipules none.

=Inflorescence.=--June. Sterile and fertile flowers on separate or on
the same trees; not conspicuous, axillary; sterile often in clusters,
fertile solitary; calyx 4-6-parted; corolla 4-6-parted; about 1/2 inch
long, pale yellow, thickish, urn-shaped, constricted at the mouth and
somewhat smaller in the sterile flowers; stamens 16 in the sterile
flowers, in fertile flowers 8 or less, imperfect; styles 4, ovary
8-celled.

=Fruit.=--A berry, ripe in late fall, roundish, about an inch in
diameter, larger farther south, with thick, spreading, persistent calyx,
yellow to yellowish-brown, very astringent when immature, edible and
agreeable to the taste after exposure to the frost; several-seeded.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy along the south shore of New England;
prefers well-drained soil in open situations; free from disfiguring
enemies; occasionally cultivated in nurseries but difficult to
transplant. Propagated from seed.

[Illustration: PLATE LXXXII.--Diospyros Virginiana.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Branch with sterile flowers.
3. Vertical section of sterile flower.
4. Branch with fertile flowers.
5. Section of fertile flower.
6. Fruiting branch.

OLEACEAE. OLIVE FAMILY.

Fraxinus Americana, L.

WHITE ASH.

=Habitat and Range.=--Rich or moist woods, fields and pastures, near
streams.

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Ontario.

Maine,--very common, often forming large forest areas; in the other New
England states, widely distributed, but seldom occurring in large
masses.

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

=Habit.=--A tall forest tree, 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of
2-3 feet; rising in the rich bottom lands of the Ohio river 100 feet or
more, often in the forest half its height without a limb. In open
ground the trunk, separating at a height of a few feet, throws off two
or three large limbs, and is soon lost amid the slender, often gently
curving branches, forming a rather open, rounded head widest at or near
the base, with light and graceful foliage, and a stout, rather sparse,
glabrous, and sometimes flattish spray.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in mature trees easily distinguishable at some
distance by the characteristic gray color and uniform striation; ridges
prominent, narrow, flattish, firm, without surface scales but with fine
transverse seams; furrows fine and strong, sinuous, parallel or
connecting at intervals; large limbs more or less furrowed; smaller
branches smooth and grayish-green; season's shoots polished olive green;
leaf-scars prominent.

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