Part 34

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in young trees grayish, rough, unbroken, in old trees with deep, short ridges; main branches corrugated; secondary branches close and even; branchlets pubescent; season's shoots reddish-brown, often downy, more or less shining.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, ovate, acute, scales chestnut brown. Leaves simple, alternate, extremely variable in size, outline, and texture, usually 2-4 inches long, two-thirds as wide, thin, deep green, and scarcely rough above, more or less pubescent beneath, with numerous and prominent veins, outline ovate to ovate-lanceolate, sharply serrate above the lower third; apex usually narrowly and sharply acuminate; base acutish, inequilateral, 3-nerved, entire; leafstalk slender; stipules lanceolate, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing with the leaves from the axils of the season's shoots, sterile and fertile flowers usually separate on the same tree; flowers slender-stemmed, the sterile in clusters at the base of the shoot, the fertile in the axils above, usually solitary; calyx greenish, segments oblong; stamens 4-6, in the fertile flowers about the length of the 4 lobes, in the sterile exserted; ovary with two long, recurved stigmas.

=Fruit.=--Drupes, on long slender stems, globular, about the size of the fruit of the wild red cherry, purplish-red when ripe, thin-meated, edible, lasting through the winter.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows in all well-drained soils, but prefers a deep, rich, moist loam. Young trees grow rather slowly and are more or less distorted, and trees of the same age often vary considerably in size and habit; hence it is not a desirable street tree, but it appears well in ornamental grounds. A disease which seriously disfigures the tree is extending to New England, and the leaves are sometimes attacked by insects. Occasionally offered by nurserymen and easily transplanted.

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

MORACEAE. MULBERRY FAMILY.

=Morus rubra, L.=

MULBERRY.

=Habitat and Range.=--Banks of rivers, rich woods.

Canadian shore of Lake Erie.

A rare tree in New England. Maine,--doubtfully reported; New Hampshire,--Pemigewasset valley, White mountains (Matthews); Vermont,--northern extremity of Lake Champlain, banks of the Connecticut (Flagg), Pownal (Oakes), North Pownal (Eggleston); Massachusetts,--rare; Rhode Island,--no station reported; Connecticut,--rare; Bristol, Plainville, North Guilford, East Rock and Norwich (J. N. Bishop).

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

=Habit.=--A small tree, 15-25 feet in height, with a trunk diameter of 8-15 inches; attaining much greater dimensions in the Ohio and Mississippi basins; a wide-branching, rounded tree, characterized by a milky sap, rather dense foliage, and fruit closely resembling in shape that of the high blackberry.

=Bark.=--Trunk light brown, rough, and more or less furrowed according to age; larger branches light greenish-brown; season's shoots gray and somewhat downy.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovate, obtuse. Leaves simple, alternate, 4-8 inches long, two-thirds as wide, rough above, yellowish-green and densely pubescent when young; at maturity dark green and downy beneath, turning yellow in autumn; conspicuously reticulated; outline variable, ovate, obovate, oblong or broadly oval, serrate-dentate with equal teeth, or irregularly 3-7-lobed; apex acuminate; base heart-shaped to truncate; stalk 1-2 inches long; stipules linear, serrate, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing with the leaves from the season's shoots, in axillary spikes, sterile and fertile flowers sometimes on the same tree, sometimes on different trees,--sterile flowers in spreading or pendulous spikes, about 1 inch long; calyx 4-parted; petals none; stamens 4, the inflexed filaments of which suddenly straighten themselves as the flower expands: fertile spikes spreading or pendent; calyx 4-parted, becoming fleshy in fruit; ovary sessile; stigmas 2, spreading.

=Fruit.=--July to August. In drooping spikes about 1 inch long and 1/2 inch in diameter; dark purplish-red, oblong, sweet and edible; apparently a simple fruit but really made up of the thickened calyx lobes of the spike.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in southern New England; grows rapidly in a good, moist soil in sun or shade; the large leaves start late and drop early; useful where it is hardy, in low tree plantations or as an undergrowth in woods; readily transplanted, but seldom offered for sale by nurserymen or collectors; propagated from seed.

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile flowers. 3. Sterile flower with stamens incurved. 4. Sterile flower expanded. 5. Branch with fertile flowers. 6. Fertile flower, side view. 7. Fruiting branch.

=Morus alba, L.=

Probably a native of China, where its leaves have from time immemorial furnished food for silkworms; extensively introduced and naturalized in India and central and southern Europe; introduced likewise into the United States and Canada from Ontario to Florida; occasionally spontaneous near dwellings, old trees sometimes marking the sites of houses that have long since disappeared.

It may be distinguished from M. rubra by its smooth, shining leaves, its whitish or pinkish fruit, and its greater susceptibility to frost.

MAGNOLIACEAE. MAGNOLIA FAMILY.

=Liriodendron Tulipifera, L.=

TULIP TREE. WHITEWOOD. POPLAR.

=Habitat and Range.=--Prefers a rich, loamy, moist soil.

Vermont,--valley of the Hoosac river in the southwestern corner of the state; Massachusetts,--frequent in the Connecticut river valley and westward; reported as far east as Douglas, southeastern corner of Worcester county (R. M. Harper, Rhodora, II, 122); Rhode Island and Connecticut,--frequent, especially in the central and southern portions of the latter state.