Handbook of the Trees of New England Part 15

=Habitat and Range.=--Moist, rocky soil.

Nova Scotia through Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,--abundant; New Hampshire,--throughout the state; common on the Connecticut-Merrimac watershed, enters largely into the composition of the hardwood forests of Coos county; Vermont,--abundant; Ma.s.sachusetts,--in western sections abundant, common eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Florida; west to Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A tree of great beauty, rising to a height of 50-75 feet, with a diameter at the ground of 1-1/2-4 feet; under favorable conditions attaining much greater dimensions; trunk remarkably smooth, sometimes fluted, in the forests tall and straight, in open situations short and stout; head symmetrical, of various shapes,--rounded, oblong, or even obovate; branches numerous, mostly long and slender, curving slightly upward at their tips, near the point of branching horizontal or slightly drooping, beset with short branchlets which form a flat, dense, and beautiful spray; roots numerous, light brown, long, and running near the surface. Tree easily distinguishable in winter by the dried brownish-white leaves, spear-like buds, and smooth bark.

=Bark.=--Trunk light blue gray, smooth, unbroken, slightly corrugated in old trees, often beautifully mottled in blotches or bands and invested by lichens; branches gray; branchlets dark brown and smooth; spray shining, reddish-brown; season's shoots a shining olive green, orange-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds conspicuous, long, very slender, tapering slowly to a sharp point; scales rich brown, lengthening as the bud opens. Leaves set in plane of the spray, simple, alternate, 3-5 inches long, one-half as wide, silky-p.u.b.escent with fringed edges when young, nearly smooth when fully grown, green on both sides, turning to rusty yellows and browns in autumn, persistent till mid-winter; outline oval, serrate; apex ac.u.minate; base rounded; veins strong, straight, terminating in the teeth; leafstalk short, hairy at first; stipules slender, silky, soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--May. Appearing with the leaves from the season's shoots, sterile flowers from the lower axils, in heads suspended at the end of silky threads 1-2 inches long; calyx campanulate, p.u.b.escent, yellowish-green, mostly 6-lobed; petals none; stamens 6-16; anthers exserted; ovary wanting or abortive: fertile flowers from the upper axils, usually single or in pairs, at the end of a short peduncle; involucre 4-lobed, fringed with p.r.i.c.kly scales; calyx with six awl-shaped lobes; ovary 3-celled; styles 3.

=Fruit.=--A p.r.i.c.kly bur, thick, 4-valved, splitting nearly to the base when ripe: nut sharply triangular, sweet, edible.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; grows well in any good soil, but prefers deep, rich, well-drained loam; usually obtainable in nurseries; when frequently transplanted, safely moved. Its clean trunk and limbs, deep shade, and freedom from insect pests make it one of the most attractive of our large trees for use, summer or winter, in landscape gardening; few plants, however, will grow beneath it; the bark is easily disfigured; it has a bad habit of throwing out suckers and is liable to be killed by any injury to the roots. Propagated from the seed. The purple beech, weeping beech, and fern-leaf beech are well-known horticultural forms.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE x.x.xV.--f.a.gus ferruginea.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower.

4. Fertile flower.

5. Fruiting branch.

6. Section of fruit.

7. Nut.

=Castanea sativa, var. Americana, Watson and Coulter.=

_Castanea dentata, Borkh. Castanea vesca, var. Americana, Michx._

CHESTNUT.

=Habitat and Range.=--In strong, well-drained soil; pastures, rocky woods, and hillsides.

Ontario,--common.

Maine,--southern sections, probably not indigenous north of lat.i.tude 44 20'; New Hampshire,--Connecticut valley near the river, as far north as Windsor, Vt.; most abundant in the Merrimac valley south of Concord, but occasional a short distance northward; Vermont,--common in the southern sections, especially in the Connecticut valley; occasional as far north as Windsor (Windsor county), West Rutland (Rutland county), Burlington (Chittenden county); Ma.s.sachusetts,--rather common throughout the state, but less frequent near the sea; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Delaware, along the mountains to Alabama; west to Michigan, Indiana, and Tennessee.

=Habit.=--A tree of the first magnitude, rising to a height of 60-80 feet and reaching a diameter of 5-6 feet above the swell of the roots, with a spread sometimes equaling or even exceeding the height; attaining often much greater proportions. The ma.s.sive trunk separates usually a few feet from the ground into several stout horizontal or ascending branches, the limbs higher up, horizontal or rising at a broad angle, forming a stately, open, roundish, or inversely pyramidal head; branchlets slender; spray coa.r.s.e and not abundant; foliage bright green, dense, casting a deep shade; flowers profuse, the long, sterile catkins upon their darker background of leaves conspicuous upon the hill slopes at a great distance. A tree that may well dispute precedence with the white or red oak.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in old trees deeply cleft with wide ridges, hard, rough, dark gray; in young trees very smooth, often shining; season's shoots green or purplish-brown, white-dotted.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, ovate, brown, acutish. Leaves simple, alternate, 5-10 inches long, 1-3 inches wide, bright clear green above, paler beneath and smooth on both sides; outline oblong-lanceolate, sharply and coa.r.s.ely serrate; veins straight, terminating in the teeth; apex ac.u.minate; base acute or obtuse; leafstalk short; stipules soon falling.

=Inflorescence.=--June to July. Appearing from the axils of the season's shoots, after the leaves have grown to their full size; sterile catkins numerous, cl.u.s.tered or single, erect or spreading, 4-10 inches long, slender, flowers pale yellowish-green or cream-colored; calyx p.u.b.escent, mostly 6-parted; stamens 15-20; odor offensive when the anthers are discharging their pollen: fertile flowers near the base of the upper sterile catkins or in separate axils, 1-3 in a p.r.i.c.kly involucre; calyx 6-toothed; ovary ovate, styles as many as the cells of the ovary, exserted.

=Fruit.=--Burs round, thick, p.r.i.c.kly, 2-4 inches in diameter, opening by 4 valves: nuts 1-5, dark brown, covered with whitish down at apex, flat on one side when there are several in a cl.u.s.ter, ovate when only one, sweet and edible.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers fertile, well-drained, gravelly or rocky soil; rather difficult to transplant; usually obtainable in nurseries. Its vigorous and rapid growth, ma.s.sive, broad-spreading head and attractive flowers make it a valuable tree for landscape gardening, but in public places the p.r.i.c.kly burs and edible fruit are a serious disadvantage. Propagated from the seed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE x.x.xVI.--Castanea sativa, var. Americana.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Sterile flower.

4. Fertile flower.

5. Fruit.

6. Nut.

=QUERCUS.=

Inflorescence appearing with the leaves in spring; sterile catkins from terminal or lateral buds on shoots of the preceding year, bracted, usually several in a cl.u.s.ter, unbranched, long, cylindrical, pendulous; bracts of sterile flowers minute, soon falling; calyx parted or lobed; stamens 3-12, undivided: fertile flowers terminal or axillary upon the new shoots, single or few-cl.u.s.tered, bracted, erect; involucre scaly, becoming the cupule or cup around the lower part of the acorn; ovary 3-celled; stigma 3-lobed.

WHITE OAKS.

Leaves with obtuse or rounded lobes or teeth; cup-scales thickened or k.n.o.bbed at base; stigmas sessile or nearly so; fruit maturing the first year.

BLACK OAKS.

Leaves with pointed or bristle-tipped lobes and teeth; cup-scales flat; stigmas on spreading styles; fruit maturing the second year.

=Quercus alba, L.=

WHITE OAK.

=Habitat and Range.=--Light loams, sandy plains, and gravelly ridges, often const.i.tuting extensive tracts of forest.

Quebec and Ontario.

Maine,--southern sections; New Hampshire,--most abundant eastward; in the Connecticut valley confined to the hills in the immediate vicinity of the river, extending up the tributary streams a short distance and disappearing entirely before reaching the mouth of the Pa.s.sumpsic (W. F.

Flint); Vermont,--common west of the Green mountains, less so in the southern Connecticut valley (_Flora of Vermont_, 1900); Ma.s.sachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,--common.

South to the Gulf of Mexico; west to Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A tree of the first rank, 50-75 feet high and 1-6 feet in diameter above the swell of the roots, exhibiting considerable diversity in general appearance, trunk sometimes dissolving into branches like the American elm, and sometimes continuous to the top. The finest specimens in open land are characterized by a rather short, ma.s.sive trunk, with stout, horizontal, far-reaching limbs, conspicuously gnarled and twisted in old age, forming a wide-spreading, open head of striking grandeur, the diameter at the base of which is sometimes two or three times the height of the tree.

=Bark.=--Trunk and larger branches light ash-gray, sometimes nearly white, broken into long, thin, loose, irregular, soft-looking flakes; in old trees with broad, flat ridges; inner bark light; branchlets ash-gray, mottled; young shoots grayish-green, roughened with minute rounded, raised dots.