Part 55

=Fruit=.—Ripens in September or October; a scarlet ovoid drupe, with a grooved stone, borne solitary or in clusters of 2-5 on a stalk. Undeveloped pistillate flowers often persist at base of fruit.

=Bark=.—On old trunks broken into quadrangular scales, reddish-brown to blackish.

=Wood=.—Hard, heavy, strong, tough, pale red-brown or pinkish, with lighter sapwood.

=Range=.—Ontario, Michigan and Massachusetts to Florida, west to Texas and Missouri.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Common in all parts of the State.

=Habitat=.—Prefers moist, well-drained soils of slopes and bottoms.

=Notes=.—This well-known tree is prized for its wood which is used for many purposes about the farm and is also manufactured into shuttles, wedges, golf-stick heads, engravers’ blocks, brush blocks, tool handles and for turnery. As an ornamental tree it beautifies the native woods or the lawn by its clusters of white-bracted flowers, and later in the season by its scarlet fruits.

ALTERNATE-LEAVED DOGWOOD

=Cornus alternifolia=, L.

=Form=.—A small tree or shrub sometimes 20-30 feet high with a diameter of 6-8 inches; trunk short; crown broad, flat-topped and rather dense.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, or sometimes opposite, clustered at the ends of the limbs, ovate, taper-pointed, acute at base, entire, whitish and minutely pubescent beneath.

=Flowers=.—April-May; cream-colored, small, borne in broad open cymes.

=Fruit=.—Matures in autumn; a deep blue spherical drupe, about one-third inch in diameter, on reddish stalks, in cymose clusters.

=Bark=.—Smooth or slightly roughened by longitudinal fissures on old trunks. The smooth bark of branches is greenish.

=Wood=.—Hard, heavy, tough, close-grained, brown tinged with red.

=Range=.—Nova Scotia to Alabama, west to Minnesota.

=Distribution in West Virginia=.—Found principally along the Alleghanies and westward. Not common in the eastern part of the State.

=Habitat=.—Prefers stream borders, cool ravines, and moist rich soils of hillsides.

=Notes=.—No uses are reported for the wood of the Alternate-leaved Dogwood. Whether in bloom or in fruit the tree is very attractive in appearance.

BLACK GUM

=Nyssa sylvatica=, Marsh.

=Form=.—Height 40-100 feet, diameter 2-4 feet; trunk usually long, clear and straight when in close stands; crown cylindrical or rounded, of numerous horizontal and ascending slender branches.

=Leaves=.—Alternate, simple, 2-5 inches long, oval-obovate; acuminate, entire, firm, dark green and shining above, paler beneath, often hairy when young.

=Flowers=.—April-May; polygamo-dioecious; greenish, the staminate borne in many-flowered small heads on slender pedicels, the pistillate sessile in several-flowered clusters.

=Fruit=.—Matures in autumn; an ovoid, blue-black, fleshy drupe, about ½ inch long and borne on long stalks in clusters of 1-3.

=Bark=.—Deeply furrowed, on old trunks, the ridges broken into rectangular or hexagonal blocks; light brown to gray-black.

=Wood=.—Heavy, soft, strong, tough, difficult to split, not durable in the soil, light yellow, with thick whitish sapwood.

=Range=.—Maine and Ontario to Florida and Texas.