Handbook of the Trees of New England Part 22

=Inflorescence.=--Late May or early June. Flowers conspicuous, solitary, terminal, held erect by a stout stem, tulip-shaped, 1-1/2-2 inches long, opening at the top about 2 inches. There are two triangular bracts which fall as the flower opens; three greenish, concave sepals, at length reflexed; six greenish-yellow petals with an orange spot near the base of each; numerous stamens somewhat shorter than the petals; and pistils clinging together about a central axis.

=Fruit.=--Cone-like, formed of numerous carpels, often abortive, which fall away from the axis at maturity; each long, flat carpel encloses in the cavity at its base one or two orange seeds which hang out for a time on flexible, silk-like threads.

=Horticultural Value.=--An ornamental tree of great merit; hardy except in the coldest parts of New England; difficult to transplant, but growing rapidly when established; comes into leaf rather early and holds its foliage till mid-fall, shedding it in a short time when mature; adapts itself readily to good, light soils, but grows best in moist loam. It has few disfiguring insect enemies. Mostly propagated by seed, but sometimes successfully collected; for sale in the leading nurseries and usually obtainable in large quant.i.ties. Of abnormal forms offered by nurserymen, one has an upright habit approaching that of the Lombardy poplar; another has variegated leaves, and another leaves without lobes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LIII.--Liriodendron Tulipifera.]

1. Winter bud, terminal.

2. Opening leaf-bud with stipules.

3. Flowering branch.

4. Fruit.

5. Fruit with many carpels removed.

6. Carpel with seeds.

LAURACEae. LAUREL FAMILY.

=Sa.s.safras officinale, Nees.=

_Sa.s.safras Sa.s.safras, Karst._

Sa.s.sAFRAS.

=Habitat and Range.=--In various soils and situations; sandy or rich woods, along the borders of peaty swamps.

Provinces of Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,--this tree grows not beyond Black Point (Scarboro, c.u.mberland county) eastward (Josselyn's _New England Rarities_, 1672); not reported again by botanists for more than two hundred years; rediscovered at Wells in 1895 (Walter Deane) and North Berwick in 1896 (J. C. Parlin); New Hamps.h.i.+re,--lower Merrimac valley, eastward to the coast and along the Connecticut valley to Bellows Falls; Vermont,--occasional south of the center; Pownal (Robbins, Eggleston); Hartland and Brattleboro (Bates), Vernon (Grant); Ma.s.sachusetts,--common especially in the eastern sections; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Florida; west to Michigan, Iowa, Kansas, and Texas.

=Habit.=--Generally a shrub or small tree but sometimes reaching a height of 40-50 feet and a trunk diameter of 2-4 feet; attaining a maximum in the southern and southwestern states of 80-100 feet in height and a trunk diameter of 6-7 feet; head open, flattish or rounded; branches at varying angles, stout, crooked, and irregular; spray bushy; marked in winter by the contrasting reddish-brown of the trunk, the bright yellowish-green of the shoots and the prominent flower-buds, in early spring by the drooping racemes of yellow flowers, in autumn by the rich yellow or red-tinted foliage and handsome fruit, at all seasons by the aromatic odor and spicy flavor of all parts of the tree, especially the bark of the root.

=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 p.u.b.escent, 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 p.u.b.escent, the inner glossy, p.u.b.escent; 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 ma.s.ses 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LIV.--Sa.s.safras 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, s.h.i.+ning 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, s.h.i.+ning 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 sh.o.r.es of New England; grows in good wet or dry soils, preferring clays. Young plants are tender in Ma.s.sachusetts, 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LV.--Liquidambar styraciflua.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower.

4. Fertile flower.

5. Fruiting branch.

PLATANACEae. PLANE-TREE FAMILY.