Part 20

The wood is hard, heavy, strong, very close-grained, brown to red in color. It is in great demand for cotton-mill machinery, turnery handles and forms. One other tree has quite similar wood--the persimmon.

The dogwood, with its masses of early spring flowers, its dark red autumn foliage and its bright red berries, is probably our most ornamental native tree. It should be used much more extensively in roadside and ornamental planting.

The alternate-leaved dogwood, Cornus alternifolia L., occasionally reaches tree size with long slender branches arranged in irregular whorls giving the tree a storied effect. The flowers are small, followed by blue-black fruit borne in loose red-stemmed clusters.

+SOUR GUM+ Nyssa sylvatica Marsh.

THE sour gum, often called black gum, is found in many types of soil and in most conditions of soil moisture in southern Illinois, but it becomes rare in the northern half of the State. In lowlands, it is occasionally found in year-round swamps with cypress, and in the hills on dry slopes with oaks and hickories.

One-half natural size.]

The leaves are simple, 2 to 3 inches long, entire, often broader near the apex, shiny, dark green in color. In the fall the leaves turn a most brilliant red.

The bark on younger trees is furrowed between flat ridges, and gradually develops into quadrangular blocks that are dense, hard and nearly black. Most of the branches are nearly horizontal.

The greenish flowers on long slender stems appear in early spring when the leaves are about one-third grown. They are usually of two kinds, the male in many-flowered heads and the female in two to several-flowered clusters on different trees. The fruit is a dark blue, fleshy berry, 2/3 of an inch long, containing a single hard-shelled seed, and is borne on long stems, 2 to 3 in a cluster.

The wood is very tough, cross-grained, not durable in contact with the soil, hard to work, and warps easily. It is used for crate and basket veneers, box shooks, rollers, mallets, rough floors, mine trams, pulpwood and fuel.

The tupelo gum, or cotton gum, Nyssa aquatica L., is found in deep river swamps which are flooded during a part of the year. It occurs in 4 or 5 of the southern counties of Illinois in cypress swamps. The enlarged base and the larger fruit serve to distinguish it from the sour gum. This fruit or "plum" is about an inch long, dark purple and has a tough skin enclosing a flattened stone. The wood is light, soft, and not strong and is used for woodenware, handles, fruit and vegetable packages.

+PERSIMMON+ Diospyros virginiana L.

THE persimmon, often called "simmon", is well known throughout its range. It is a small tree, rarely exceeding 50 feet in height and 1 inch in diameter, occurring throughout the State from the southern part north to Peoria County. It seems to prefer dry, open situations, and is most abundant in the old fields, though it also occurs on rich bottom lands. The bark of old trees is almost black and separated into thick nearly square blocks, much like the black gum.

Leaf, one-half natural size. Twig, three-quarters natural size.]

The leaves are alternate, oval, entire, 4 to 6 inches long, dark green and shining above, paler beneath.

The small flowers, which appear in May, are yellowish or creamy white, somewhat bell-shaped, the two kinds occurring on separate trees; the male in clusters of 2 or 3, the female solitary. They are visited by many insects.

The fruit is a pulpy, round, orange-colored or brown berry, an inch or more in diameter and containing several flattened, hard, smooth seeds. It is strongly astringent while green, but quite sweet and delicious when thoroughly ripe.

The wood is hard, dense, heavy, strong, the heartwood brown or black, the wide sapwood white or yellowish. It is particularly valued for shuttles, golf-stick heads, and similar special uses, but is not of sufficient commercial use to warrant its general encouragement as a timber tree.

The Hercules' club, Aralia spinosa L., grows to tree size in southern Illinois, with a spiny stem 25 to 30 feet tall and a flat-topped head. The doubly compound leaves are often more than 3 feet long. Its small greenish-white flowers are followed by large clusters of purple juicy berries. It is desirable for ornamental planting.

+WHITE ASH+ Fraxinus americana L.

THE white ash is found throughout the State, but grows to best advantage in the rich moist soils of bottom lands. It reaches an average height of 50 to 80 feet and a diameter of 2 to 3 feet, though much larger trees are found in virgin forests. The bark varies in color from a light gray to a gray-brown. The rather narrow ridges are separated with marked regularity by deep, diamond-shaped fissures.

Twig, one-half natural size. Leaf, one-third natural size.]

The opposite leaves of the white ash are from 8 to 12 inches long and have from 5 to 9 plainly stalked, sharp-pointed leaflets, dark green and smooth above, pale green beneath.

The flowers are of two kinds on different trees, the staminate in dense reddish-purple clusters and the pistillate in more open bunches. The fruit of the ash is winged, 1 to 1-1/2 inches long, resembling the blade of a canoe paddle in outline, with the seed at the handle end. The fruits mature in late summer and are distributed effectively by the winds.

The wood of the white ash is extremely valuable on account of its toughness and elasticity. It is preferred to all other native woods for small tool handles, such athletic implements as rackets, bats, and oars, and agricultural implements. It is also used extensively for furniture and interior finish.

The green ash, Fraxinus pennsylvanica lanceolata Sarg., is common in stream valleys throughout the State. The hairy form of this tree is known as the red ash. This species differs from the white ash in having the leaves bright green or yellow-green on both sides. The fruit has the wing portion extending well down past the middle of the seed-bearing part, and with the wing sometimes square or slightly notched at the outer end. The wood is similar to that of the white ash, but is not quite so tough.

+BLUE ASH+ Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx.

THE blue ash is not very common but widely distributed in the upland portions of the State, where it is limited to limestone bluffs, occasionally descending to the adjacent bottom lands. It becomes a large tree 60 feet or more in height with a trunk 2 feet in diameter. The young twigs are usually square, sometimes winged or 4-ridged between the leaf bases.