Part 35

South to the Gulf states; west to Wisconsin; occasional in the eastern sections of Missouri and Arkansas; attains great size in the basins of the Ohio and its tributaries, and southward along the Mississippi river bottoms.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 50-70 feet high; trunk 2-3 feet in diameter, straight, cylindrical; head rather open, more or less cone-shaped, in the dense forest lifted high and spreading; branches small for the size of the tree, set at varying angles, often decurrent, becoming scraggly with age. The shapely trunk, erect, showy blossoms, green, cone-like fruit, and conspicuous bright green truncate leaves give the tulip tree an air of peculiar distinction.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk ashen-gray and smoothish in young trees, becoming at length dark, seamed, and furrowed; the older branches gray; the season's shoots of a shining chestnut, with minute dots and conspicuous leaf-scars; glabrous or dusty-pubescent; bark of roots pale brown, fleshy, with an agreeable aromatic smell and pungent taste.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Terminal buds 1/2-1 inch long; narrow-oblong; flattish; covered by two chestnut-brown dotted scales, which persist as appendages at the base of the leafstalk, often enclosing several leaves which develop one after the other. Leaves simple, alternate, lobed; 3-5 inches long and nearly as broad, dark green and smooth on the upper surface, lighter, with minute dusty pubescence beneath, becoming yellow and russet brown in autumn; usually with four rounded or pointed lobes, the two upper abruptly cut off at the apex, and separated by a slight indentation or notch more or less broad and shallow at the top; all the lobes entire, or 2-3 sublobed, or coarsely toothed; base truncate, acute or heart-shaped; leafstalks as long or longer than the blade, slender, enlarged at the base; stipules 1-2 inches long, pale yellow, oblong, often persisting till the leaf is fully developed.

=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 quantities. 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.

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.

=Sassafras officinale, Nees.=

Sassafras Sassafras, Karst.

SASSAFRAS.

=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, Cumberland 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 Hampshire,--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); Massachusetts,--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 pubescent, 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 pubescent, the inner glossy, pubescent; 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 masses 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.

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.