Handbook of the Trees of New England

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

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Southward, coast region to Florida and west to Mississippi.

=Habit.=--20-50 feet high and 1-2 feet in diameter at the ground,
reaching in the southern states an altitude of 90 and a diameter of 4
feet; trunk straight, tapering slowly, throwing out nearly horizontal,
slender branches, forming a narrow, conical head often of great elegance
and lightness; foliage light brownish-green; strong-scented; spray flat
in planes disposed at different angles; wood permanently aromatic.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk thick, reddish, fibrous, shreddy, separating into
thin scales, becoming more or less furrowed in old trees; branches
reddish-brown; fine scaled; branches after fall of leaves, in the third
or fourth year, smooth, purplish-brown; season's shoots at first
greenish.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Leaf-buds naked, minute. Leaves mostly
opposite, 4-ranked, adherent to the branchlet and completely covering
it; keeled in the side pairs and slightly convex in the others, dull
green, pointed at apex or triangular awl-shaped, mostly with a minute
roundish gland upon the back.

=Inflorescence.=--April. Flowers terminal, sterile and fertile, usually
on the same plant, rarely on separate plants, fertile on short
branchlets: sterile, globular or oblong, anthers opposite, filaments
shield-shaped: fertile, oblong or globular; ovuliferous scales opposite,
slightly spreading at top, dark reddish-brown.

=Fruit.=--Cones, variously placed, 1/2 inch in diameter, roundish,
purplish-brown, opening towards the center, never to the base; scales
shield-shaped, woody; seeds several under each scale, winged.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England, growing best in
the southern sections. Young trees are graceful and attractive, but soon
become thin and lose their lower branches; valued chiefly in landscape
planting for covering low and boggy places where other trees do not
succeed as well. Seldom for sale in nurseries, but easily procured from
collectors. Several unimportant horticultural forms are grown.

[Illustration: PLATE XII.--Cupressus thyoides.]

1. Branch with flowers.
2. Sterile flower.
3. Stamen, back view.
4. Stamen, front view.
5. Fertile flower.
6. Ovuliferous scale with ovules.
7. Fruiting-branch.
8. Fruit.
9. Branch.

=Juniperus Virginiana, L.=

RED CEDAR. CEDAR. SAVIN.

=Habitat and Range.=--Dry, rocky hills but not at great altitudes,
borders of lakes and streams, sterile plains, peaty swamps.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Ontario.

Maine,--rare, though it extends northward to the middle Kennebec valley,
reduced almost to a shrub; New Hampshire,--most frequent in the
southeast part of the state; sparingly in the Connecticut valley as far
north as Haverhill (Grafton county); found also in Hart's location in
the White mountain region; Vermont,--not abundant; occurs here and there
on hills at levels less than 1000 feet; frequent in the Champlain and
lower Connecticut valleys; Massachusetts,--west and center occasional,
eastward common; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Florida; west to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian
Territory.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 25-40 feet high, with a trunk diameter of
8-20 inches, attaining much greater dimensions southward; extremely
variable in outline; the lower branches usually nearly horizontal, the
upper ascending; head when young very regular, narrow-based, close and
conical; in old trees frequently rather open, wide-spreading, ragged,
roundish or flattened. In very exposed situations, especially along the
seacoast, the trunk sometimes rises a foot or two and then develops
horizontally, forming a curiously contorted lateral head. Under such
conditions it occasionally becomes a dwarf tree 2-3 feet high, with
wide-spreading branches and a very dense dome; spray close, foliage a
sombre green, sometimes tinged with a rusty brownish-red; wood pale red,
aromatic.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk light reddish-brown, fibrous, shredding off, now
and then, in long strips, exposing the smooth brown inner bark; season's
shoots green.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Leaf-buds naked, minute. Leaves dull green or
brownish-red, of two kinds:

1. Scale-like, mostly opposite, each pair overlapping the pair above,
4-ranked, ovate, acute, sometimes bristle-tipped, more or less convex,
obscurely glandular.

2. Scattered, not overlapping, narrowly lanceolate or needle-shaped,
sharp-pointed, spreading. The second form is more common in young trees,
sometimes comprising all the foliage, but is often found on trees of all
ages, sometimes aggregated in dense masses.

=Inflorescence.=--Early May. Flowers terminating short branches, sterile
and fertile, more commonly on separate trees, often on the same tree;
anthers in opposite pairs; ovuliferous scales in opposite pairs,
slightly spreading, acute or obtuse; ovules 1-4.

=Fruit.=--Berry-like from the coalescence of the fleshy cone-scales, the
extremities of which are often visible, roundish, the size of a small
pea, dark blue beneath a whitish bloom, 1-4-seeded.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers sunny
slopes and a loamy soil, but grows well in poor, thin soils and upon
wind-swept sites; young plants increase in height 1-2 feet yearly and
have a very formal, symmetrical outline; old trees often become
irregular and picturesque, and grow very slowly; a long-lived tree;
usually obtainable in nurseries and from collectors, but must frequently
be transplanted to be moved with safety. If a ball of earth can be
retained about the roots of wild plants, they can often be moved
successfully. There are horticultural forms distinguished by a slender
weeping or distorted habit, and by variegated bluish or yellowish
foliage, occasionally found in American nurseries. The type is usually
propagated from the seed, the horticultural forms from cuttings or by
grafting.

[Illustration: PLATE XIII.--Juniperus Virginiana.]

1. Branch with sterile and fertile flowers.
2. Sterile flower.
3. Stamen with pollen-sacs.
4. Fertile flower.
5. Fruiting branch.
6. Branch.
7. Branch with needle-shaped leaves.

SALICACEAE. WILLOW FAMILY.

Trees or shrubs; leaves simple, alternate, undivided, with stipules
either minute and soon falling or leafy and persistent; inflorescence
from axillary buds of the preceding season, appearing with or before the
leaves, in nearly erect, spreading or drooping catkins, sterile and
fertile on separate trees; flowers one to each bract, without calyx
or corolla; stamens one to many; style short or none; stigmas 2, entire
or 2-4-lobed; fruit a 2-4-celled capsule.

POPULUS.

Inflorescence usually appearing before the leaves; flowers with lacerate
bracts, disk cup-shaped and oblique-edged, at least in sterile flowers;
stamens usually many, filaments distinct; stigmas mostly divided,
elongated or spreading.

SALIX.

Inflorescence appearing with or before the leaves; flowers with entire
bracts and one or two small glands; disks wanting; stamens few.

=Populus tremuloides, Michx.=

POPLAR. ASPEN.

=Habitat and Range.=--In all soils and situations except in deep swamps,
though more usual in dry uplands; sometimes springing up in great
abundance in clearings or upon burnt lands.

Newfoundland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia to the Hudson bay region
and Alaska.

New England,--common, reaching in the White mountain region an altitude
of 3000 feet.

South to New Jersey, along the mountains in Pennsylvania and
Kentucky, ascending 3000 feet in the Adirondacks; west to the
slopes of the Rocky mountains, along which it extends to Mexico and
Lower California.

=Habit.=--A graceful tree, ordinarily 35-40 feet and not uncommonly
50-60 feet high; trunk 8-15 inches in diameter, tapering, surmounted by
a very open, irregular head of small, spreading branches; spray sparse,
consisting of short, stout, leafy rounded shoots set at a wide angle;
distinguished by the slenderness of its habit, the light color of trunk
and branches, the deep red of the sterile catkins in early spring, and
the almost ceaseless flutter of the delicate foliage.

=Bark.=--Trunk pale green, smooth, dark-blotched below the branches,
becoming ash-gray and roughish in old trees; season's shoots dark
reddish-brown or green, shining; bitter.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 1/8-1/4 inch long, reddish-brown and
lustrous, usually smooth, ovate, acute, often slightly incurved at apex,
the upper often appressed. Leaves 1-2-1/2 inches long, breadth usually
equal to or exceeding the length, yellowish-green and ciliate when
young, dark dull green above when mature, lighter beneath, glabrous on
both sides, bright yellow in autumn; outline broadly ovate to orbicular,
finely serrate or wavy-edged, with incurved, glandular-tipped teeth,
apex rather abruptly acute or short-acuminate; base acute, truncate or
slightly heart-shaped, 3-nerved; leafstalk slender, strongly flattened
at right angles to the plane of the blade, bending to the slightest
breath of air; stipules lanceolate, silky, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, fertile
at first about the same length, gradually elongating; bracts cut into
several lanceolate or linear divisions, silky-hairy; stamens about 10;
anthers red: ovary short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red.

=Fruit.=--June. Capsules, in elongated catkins, conical; seeds numerous,
white-hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England in the most exposed
situations; grows almost anywhere, but prefers a moist, rich loam; grows
rapidly; foliage and spray thin; generally short-lived; often used as a
screen for slow-growing trees; type seldom found in nurseries, but one
or two horticultural forms are occasionally offered. Propagated from
seed or cuttings.

[Illustration: PLATE XIV.--Populus tremuloides.]

1. Branch with sterile catkins.
2. Sterile flower.
3. Branch with fertile catkins.
4. Fertile flower.
5. Fruiting branch.
6. Branch with mature leaves.
7. Variant leaves.

=Populus grandidentata, Michx.=

POPLAR. LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN.

=Habitat and Range.=--In rich or poor soils; woods, hillsides, borders
of streams.

Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec, and Ontario.

New England,--common, occasional at altitudes of 2000 feet or more.

South to Pennsylvania and Delaware, along the mountains to
Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee; west to Minnesota.

=Habit.=--A tree 30-45 feet in height and 1 foot to 20 inches in
diameter at the ground, sometimes attaining much greater dimensions;
trunk erect, with an open, unsymmetrical, straggling head; branches
distant, small and crooked; branchlets round; spray sparse, consisting
of short, stout, leafy shoots; in time and manner of blossoming,
constant motion of foliage, and general habit, closely resembling _P.
tremuloides._

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk on old trees dark grayish-brown or blackish,
irregularly furrowed, broad-ridged, the outer portions separated into
small, thickish scales; trunk of young trees soft greenish-gray;
branches greenish-gray, darker on the underside; branchlets dark
greenish-gray, roughened with leaf-scars; season's twigs in fall dark
reddish-brown, at first tomentose, becoming smooth and shining.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 1/8 inch long, mostly divergent, light
chestnut, more or less pubescent, dusty-looking, ovate, acute. Leaves
3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, densely white-tomentose when
opening, usually smooth on both sides when mature, dark green above,
lighter beneath, bright yellow in autumn; outline roundish-ovate,
coarsely and irregularly sinuate-toothed; teeth acutish; sinuses in
shallow curves; apex acute; base truncate or slightly heart-shaped;
leafstalks long, strongly flattened at right angles to the plane of the
blade; stipules thread-like, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--March to April. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long,
fertile at first about the same length, but gradually elongating;
bracts cut into several lanceolate divisions, silky-hairy; stamens about
10; anthers red: ovaries short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins at length 3-6 inches long; capsule conical,
acute, roughish-scurfy, hairy at tip: seeds numerous, hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows almost
anywhere, but prefers moist, rich loam; grows rapidly and is safely
transplanted, but is unsymmetrical, easily broken by the wind, and
short-lived; seldom offered by nurserymen, but readily procured from
northern collectors of native plants. Useful to grow for temporary
effect with permanent trees, as it will fail by the time the desirable
kinds are well established. Propagated from seed or cuttings.

=Note.=--Points of difference between _P. tremuloides_ and _P.
grandidentata_. These trees may be best distinguished in early spring by
the color of the unfolding leaves. In the sunlight the head of _P.
tremuloides_ appears yellowish-green, while that of _P. grandidentata_
is conspicuously cotton white. The leaves of _P. grandidentata_ are
larger and more coarsely toothed, and the main branches go off usually
at a broader angle. The buds of _P. grandidentata_ are mostly divergent,
dusty-looking, dull; of _P. tremuloides_, mostly appressed, highly
polished with a resinous lustre.

[Illustration: PLATE XV.--Populus grandidentata.]

1. Branch with sterile catkins.
2. Sterile flower, back view,
3. Sterile flower, front view.
4. Branch with fertile catkins.
5. Bract of fertile flower.
6. Fertile flower, front view.
7. Fruiting branch with mature leaves.
8. Fruit.
9. Fruit.

=Populus heterophylla, L.=

POPLAR. SWAMP POPLAR. COTTONWOOD.

=Habitat and Range.=--In or along swamps occasionally or often
overflowed; rare, local, and erratically distributed.

Connecticut,--frequent in the southern sections; Bozrah (J. N. Bishop);
Guilford, in at least three wood-ponds (W. E. Dudley _in lit._), New
Haven, and near Norwich (W. A. Setchell).

Following the eastern coast in wide belts from New York (Staten
island and Long island) south to Georgia; west along the Gulf coast
to western Louisiana, and northward along the Mississippi and Ohio
basins to Arkansas, Indiana, and Illinois.

=Habit.=--A slender, medium-sized tree, attaining a height of 30-50
feet, reaching farther south a maximum of 90 feet; trunk 9-18 inches in
diameter, usually branching high up, forming a rather open hemispherical
or narrow-oblong head; branches irregular, short, rising, except the
lower, at a sharp angle; branchlets stout, roundish, varying in color,
degree of pubescence, and glossiness, becoming rough after the first
year with the raised leaf-scars; spray sparse.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk dark ash-gray, very rough, and broken into
loosely attached narrow plates in old trees; in young trees light
ash-gray, smooth at first, becoming in a few years roughish, low-ridged.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds conical, acute, more or less resinous.
Leaves 3-6 inches long, two-thirds as wide, densely white-tomentose when
young, at length dark green on the upper side, lighter beneath and
smooth except along the veins; outline ovate, wavy-toothed; base
heart-shaped, lobes often overlapping; apex obtuse; leafstalk long,
round, downy; stipules soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. Sterile catkins when expanded 3-4 inches
long, at length pendent; scales cut into irregular divisions, reddish;
stamens numerous, anthers oblong, dark red: fertile catkins spreading,
few and loosely flowered, gradually elongating; scales reddish-brown;
ovary short-stalked; styles 2-3, united at the base; stigmas 2-3,
conspicuous.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins spreading or drooping, 4-5 inches long:
capsules usually erect, ovoid, acute, shorter than or equaling the
slender pedicels: seeds numerous, white-hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Not procurable in New England nurseries or from
collectors; its usefulness in landscape gardening not definitely known.

[Illustration: PLATE XVI.--Populus heterophylla.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Branch with sterile catkin.
3. Sterile flower.
4. Scale of sterile flower.
5. Branch with fertile catkin.
6. Fertile flower.
7. Fruiting branch with mature leaves.

=Populus deltoides, Marsh.=

_Populus monilifera, Ait._

COTTONWOOD. POPLAR.

=Habitat and Range.=--In moist soil; river banks and basins, shores of
lakes, not uncommon in drier locations.

Throughout Quebec and Ontario to the base of the Rocky mountains.

Maine,--not reported; New Hampshire,--restricted to the immediate
vicinity of the Connecticut river, disappearing near the northern part
of Westmoreland; Vermont,--western sections, abundant along the shores
of the Hoosac river in Pownal and along Lake Champlain (W. W.
Eggleston); in the Connecticut valley as far north as Brattleboro
(_Flora of Vermont_, 1900); Massachusetts,--along the Connecticut and
its tributaries; Rhode Island,--occasional; Connecticut,--occasional
eastward, common along the Connecticut, Farmington, and Housatonic
rivers.

South to Florida; west to the Rocky mountains.

=Habit.=--A stately tree, 75-100 feet in height; trunk 3-5 feet in
diameter, light gray, straight or sometimes slightly inclined, of nearly
uniform size to the point of branching, surmounted by a noble,
broad-spreading, open, symmetrical head, the lower branches massive,
horizontal, or slightly ascending, more or less pendulous at the
extremities, the upper coarse and spreading, rising at a sharper angle;
branchlets stout; foliage brilliant green, easily set in motion; the
sterile trees gorgeous in spring with dark red pendent catkins.

=Bark.=--In old trees thick, ash-gray, separated into deep, straight
furrows with rounded ridges; in young trees light yellowish-green,
smooth; season's shoots greenish, marked with pale longitudinal lines.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds large, conical, smooth, shining. Leaves
3-6 inches long, scarcely less in width, variable in color and shape,
ordinarily dark green and shining above, lighter beneath, ribs raised on
both sides; outline broadly ovate, irregularly crenate-toothed; apex
abruptly acute or acuminate; base truncate, slightly heart-shaped or
sometimes acute; stems long, slender, somewhat flattened at right angles
to the plane of the blade; stipules linear, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--April to May. In solitary, densely flowered catkins;
bracts lacerate-fringed, each bract subtending a cup-shaped scale;
stamens very numerous; anthers longer than the filaments, dark red:
fertile catkins elongating to 5 or 6 inches; ovary ovoid; stigmas 3 or
4, nearly sessile, spreading.

=Fruit.=--Capsules ovate, rough, short-stalked; seeds densely cottony.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in southern-central New England; grows
rapidly in almost any soil and is readily obtainable in nurseries. Where
an immediate effect is desired, the cottonwood serves the purpose
excellently and frequently makes very fine large individual trees, but
the wood is soft and likely to be broken by wind or ice. Usually
propagated from cuttings.

[Illustration: PLATE XVII.--Populus deltoides.]

1. Winter buds.
2. Branch with sterile catkins.
3. Sterile flower, back view.
4. Sterile flower, front view.
5. Scale of sterile flower.
6. Fertile flower.
7. Fruiting catkin.
8. Branch with mature leaves.
9. Variant leaf.

=Populus balsamifera, L.=

BALSAM. POPLAR. BALM OF GILEAD.

=Habitat and Range.=--Alluvial soils; river banks, valleys, borders of
swamps, woods.

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia west to Manitoba; northward to the
coast of Alaska and along the Mackenzie river to the Arctic circle.

Maine,--common; New Hampshire,--Connecticut river valley, generally near
the river, becoming more plentiful northward; Vermont,--frequent;
Massachusetts and Rhode Island,--not reported; Connecticut,--extending
along the Housatonic river at New Milford for five or six miles, perhaps
derived from an introduced tree (C. K. Averill, _Rhodora_, II, 35).

West through northern New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Dakota (Black
Hills), Montana, beyond the Rockies to the Pacific coast.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 30-75 feet high, trunk 1-3 feet in
diameter, straight; branches horizontal or nearly so, slender for size
of tree, short; head open, narrow-oblong or oblong-conical; branchlets
mostly terete; foliage thin.

=Bark.=--In old trees dark gray or ash-gray, firm-ridged, in young trees
smooth; branchlets grayish; season's shoots reddish or greenish brown,
sparsely orange-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds 3/4 inch long, appressed or slightly
divergent, conical, slender, acute, resin-coated, sticky, fragrant when
opening. Leaves 3-6 inches long, about one-half as wide, yellowish when
young, when mature bright green, whitish below; outline ovate-lanceolate
or ovate, finely toothed, gradually tapering to an acute or acuminate
apex; base obtuse to rounded, sometimes truncate or heart-shaped;
leafstalk much shorter than the blade, terete or nearly so; stipules
soon falling. The leaves of var. _intermedia_ are obovate to oval; those
of var. _latifolia_ closely approach the leaves of _P. candicans_.

=Inflorescence.=--April. Sterile 3-4 inches long, fertile at first about
the same length, gradually elongating, loosely flowered; bracts
irregularly and rather narrowly cut-toothed, each bract subtending a
cup-shaped disk; stamens numerous; anthers red: ovary short-stalked;
stigmas two, 2-lobed, large, wavy-margined.

=Fruit.=--Fruiting catkins drooping, 4-6 inches long: capsules ovoid,
acute, longer than the pedicels, green: seeds numerous, hairy.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in all
excepting very wet soils, in full sun or light shade, and in exposed
situations; of rapid growth, but subject to the attacks of borers, which
kill the branches and make the head unsightly; also spreads from the
roots, and therefore not desirable for ornamental plantations; most
useful in the formation of shelter-belts; readily transplanted but not
common in nurseries. Propagated from cuttings.

[Illustration: PLATE XVIII.--Populus balsamifera.]

1. Branch with sterile flowers.
2. Sterile flower, back view.
3. Sterile flower, side view.
4. Scales of sterile flower.
5. Branch with fertile catkins.
6. Fertile flower.
7. Fruiting catkins, mature.
8. Branch with mature leaves.

=Populus candicans, Ait.=

_Populus balsamifera_, var. _candicans, Gray._

BALM OF GILEAD.

=Habitat and Range.=--In a great variety of soils; usually in cultivated
or pasture lands in the vicinity of dwellings; infrequently found in a
wild state. The original site of this tree has not been definitely
agreed upon. Professor L. H. Bailey reports that it is indigenous in
Michigan, and northern collectors find both sexes in New Hampshire and
Vermont; while in central and southern New England the staminate tree is
rarely if ever seen, and the pistillate flowers seldom if ever mature
perfect fruit. The evidence seems to indicate a narrow belt extending
through northern New Hampshire, Vermont and Michigan, with the
intermediate southern sections of the Province of Ontario as the home of
the Balm of Gilead.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,--occasional; Ontario,--frequent.

New England,--occasional throughout.

South to New Jersey; west to Michigan and Minnesota.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 40-60 feet high; trunk 1-3 feet in
diameter, straight or inclined, sometimes beset with a few crooked,
bushy branchlets; head very variable in shape and size; solitary in open
ground, commonly _broad-based, spacious, and pyramidal_, among other
trees more often rather small; loosely and irregularly branched, with
sparse, coarse, and often crooked spray; _foliage dark green, handsome,
and abundant_; all parts characterized by a strong and peculiar resinous
fragrance. A single tree multiplying by suckers often becomes parent of
a grove covering half an acre, more or less, made up of trees of all
ages and sizes.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and lower portions of large branches dark gray,
rough, irregularly striate and firm in old trees; in young trees and
upon smaller branches smooth, soft grayish-green, often flanged by
prominent ridges running down the stalk from the vertices of the
triangular leaf-scars; season's shoots often flanged, shining reddish or
olive green, with occasional longitudinal gray lines, viscid.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds dark reddish-brown, rather closely set
along the stalk, conical or somewhat angled, narrow, often falcate,
sharp-pointed, resinous throughout, viscid, aromatic, exhaling a
powerful odor when the scales expand, terminal about 3/4 inch long.
Leaves 4-6 inches long and nearly as wide, yellowish-green at first,
becoming dark green and smooth on the upper surface with the exception
of a _minute pubescence along the veins_, dull light green beneath,
finely serrate with incurved glandular points, usually ciliate with
minute stiff, whitish hairs; base heart-shaped; apex short-pointed;
petioles about 1-1-1/2 inches long, _more or less hairy_, somewhat
flattened at right angles to the blade; stipules short, ovate, acute,
soon falling.

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