Part 51

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds ovoid, 1/8-1/4 inch long, obtuse. Leaves simple, irregularly alternate, often apparently whorled when clustered at the ends of the shoots, 2-5 inches long, one-half as wide; at first bright green beneath, dullish-green above, becoming dark glossy green above, paler beneath, obovate or oblanceolate to oval; entire, few or obscurely toothed, or wavy-margined above the center; apex more or less abruptly acute; base acutish; firm, smooth, finely sub-veined; stem short, flat, grooved, minutely ciliate, at least when young; stipules none.

=Inflorescence.=--May or early June. Appearing with the leaves in axillary clusters of small greenish flowers, sterile and fertile usually on separate trees, sometimes on the same tree,--sterile flowers in simple or compound clusters; calyx minutely 5-parted, petals 5, small or wanting; stamens 5-12, inserted on the outside of a disk; pistil none: fertile flowers larger, solitary, or several sessile in a bracted cluster; petals 5, small or wanting; calyx minutely 5-toothed.

=Fruit.=--Drupes 1-several, ovoid, blue black, about 1/2 inch long, sour: stone striated lengthwise.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; adapts itself readily to most situations but prefers deep soil near water. Seldom offered in nurseries and difficult to transplant unless frequently root-pruned or moved; collected plants do not thrive well; seedlings are raised with little difficulty. Few trees are of greater ornamental value.

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile flowers. 3-4. Sterile flowers. 5. Branch with fertile flowers. 6. Fertile flower. 7. Fruiting branch.

EBENACEAE. EBONY FAMILY.

=Diospyros Virginiana, L.=

PERSIMMON.

=Habitat and Range.=--Rhode Island,--occasional but doubtfully native; Connecticut,--at Lighthouse Point, New Haven, near the East Haven boundary line, there is a grove consisting of about one hundred twenty-five small trees not more than a hundred feet from the water's edge, in sandy soil just above the beach grass, exposed to the buffeting of fierce winds and the incursions of salt water, which comes up around them during the heavy winter storms. These trees are not in thriving condition; several are dead or dying, and no new plants are springing up to take their places. A cross-section of the trunk of a dead tree, as large as any of those living, shows about fifty annual rings. There is no reason to suppose that the survivors are older. This station is said to have been known as early as 1846, at which date the ground where they stand was grassy and fertile. These trees, if standing at that time, must assuredly have been in their infancy. The encroachment of the sea and subsequent change of conditions account well enough for the present decrepitude, but their general similarity in size and apparent age point rather to introduction than native growth.

South to Florida, Alabama, and Louisiana; west to Iowa, Kansas, and Texas.

=Habit.=--One of the Rhode Island trees measured 3 feet 11 inches girth at the base, and gradually tapered to a height of more than 40 feet (L. W. Russell). The trees at New Haven are 15-20 feet in height, with a trunk diameter of 6-10 inches, trunk and limbs much twisted by the winds. Their branches, beginning to put out at a height of 6-8 feet, lie in almost horizontal planes, forming a roundish, open head.

=Bark.=--Trunk in old trees dark, rough, deeply furrowed, separating into small, firm sections; large limbs dark reddish-brown; season's shoots green, turning to brown.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds oblong, conical, short. Leaves simple, alternate, 3-6 inches long, about half as wide, dark green and mostly glossy above, somewhat lighter and minutely downy (at least when young) beneath, ovate to oval, entire; apex acute to acuminate; base acute, rounded or truncate; leafstalk short; stipules none.

=Inflorescence.=--June. Sterile and fertile flowers on separate or on the same trees; not conspicuous, axillary; sterile often in clusters, fertile solitary; calyx 4-6-parted; corolla 4-6-parted; about 1/2 inch long, pale yellow, thickish, urn-shaped, constricted at the mouth and somewhat smaller in the sterile flowers; stamens 16 in the sterile flowers, in fertile flowers 8 or less, imperfect; styles 4, ovary 8-celled.

=Fruit.=--A berry, ripe in late fall, roundish, about an inch in diameter, larger farther south, with thick, spreading, persistent calyx, yellow to yellowish-brown, very astringent when immature, edible and agreeable to the taste after exposure to the frost; several-seeded.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy along the south shore of New England; prefers well-drained soil in open situations; free from disfiguring enemies; occasionally cultivated in nurseries but difficult to transplant. Propagated from seed.

1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile flowers. 3. Vertical section of sterile flower. 4. Branch with fertile flowers. 5. Section of fertile flower. 6. Fruiting branch.

OLEACEAE. OLIVE FAMILY.

Fraxinus Americana, L.

WHITE ASH.

=Habitat and Range.=--Rich or moist woods, fields and pastures, near streams.

Newfoundland and Nova Scotia to Ontario.

Maine,--very common, often forming large forest areas; in the other New England states, widely distributed, but seldom occurring in large masses.

South to Florida; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A tall forest tree, 50-75 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 2-3 feet; rising in the rich bottom lands of the Ohio river 100 feet or more, often in the forest half its height without a limb. In open ground the trunk, separating at a height of a few feet, throws off two or three large limbs, and is soon lost amid the slender, often gently curving branches, forming a rather open, rounded head widest at or near the base, with light and graceful foliage, and a stout, rather sparse, glabrous, and sometimes flattish spray.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in mature trees easily distinguishable at some distance by the characteristic gray color and uniform striation; ridges prominent, narrow, flattish, firm, without surface scales but with fine transverse seams; furrows fine and strong, sinuous, parallel or connecting at intervals; large limbs more or less furrowed; smaller branches smooth and grayish-green; season's shoots polished olive green; leaf-scars prominent.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds short, rather prominent, smooth, dark or pale rusty brown. Leaves pinnately compound, opposite, 6-12 inches long; petiole smooth and grooved; leaflets 5-9, 2-5 inches long, deep green and smooth above, paler and smooth, or slightly pubescent (at least when young) beneath; ovate to lance-oblong, entire or somewhat toothed; apex pointed; base obtuse, rounded or sometimes acute; leaflet stalks short, smooth; stipules and stipels none.

=Inflorescence.=--May. In loose panicles from lateral or terminal buds of the previous season's shoots, sterile and fertile flowers for the most part on separate trees, numerous, inconspicuous; calyx in sterile flowers 4-toothed, petals none, stamens 2-4, anthers oblong; calyx in fertile flowers unequally 4-toothed or nearly entire, persistent; petals none, stamens none, pistil 1, style 1, stigma 2-cleft.