Handbook of the Trees of New England Part 21

CELTIS OCCIDENTALIS, L.

HACKBERRY. NETTLE TREE. HOOP ASH. SUGAR BERRY.

=Habitat and Range.=--In divers situations and soils; woods, river banks, near salt marshes.

Province of Quebec to Lake of the Woods, occasional.

Maine,--not reported; New Hampshire,--sparingly along the Connecticut valley, as far as Wells river; Vermont,--along Lake Champlain, not common; Norwich and Windsor on the Connecticut (Eggleston); Ma.s.sachusetts,--occasional throughout the state; Rhode Island,--common (Bailey); Connecticut,--common (J. N. Bishop).

South to the Gulf states; west to Minnesota and Missouri.

=Habit.=--A small or medium-sized tree, 20-45 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 8 inches to 2 feet; attaining farther south a maximum of 100 feet in height, with a trunk diameter of 4-6 feet; variable; most commonly the rough, straight trunk, sometimes b.u.t.tressed at the base, branches a few feet from the ground, sending out a few large limbs and numerous slender, horizontal or slightly drooping and more or less tortuous branches; head wide-spreading, flattish or often rounded, with deep green foliage which lasts into late autumn with little change in color, and with cherry-like fruit which holds on till the next spring.

=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 p.u.b.escent; 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 p.u.b.escent beneath, with numerous and prominent veins, outline ovate to ovate-lanceolate, sharply serrate above the lower third; apex usually narrowly and sharply ac.u.minate; 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 cl.u.s.ters 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LI.--Celtis occidentalis.]

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 sh.o.r.e of Lake Erie.

A rare tree in New England. Maine,--doubtfully reported; New Hampshire,--Pemigewa.s.set valley, White mountains (Matthews); Vermont,--northern extremity of Lake Champlain, banks of the Connecticut (Flagg), Pownal (Oakes), North Pownal (Eggleston); Ma.s.sachusetts,--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 p.u.b.escent 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 ac.u.minate; 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LII.--Morus rubra.]

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; Ma.s.sachusetts,--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.

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-p.u.b.escent; 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 p.u.b.escence 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 coa.r.s.ely 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.