Handbook of the Trees of New England Part 23

=Plata.n.u.s occidentalis, L.=

b.u.t.tONWOOD. SYCAMORE. b.u.t.tONBALL. PLANE TREE.

=Habitat and Range.=--Near streams, river bottoms, and low, damp woods.

Ontario.

Maine,--apparently restricted to York county; New Hampshire,--Merrimac valley towards the coast; along the Connecticut as far as Walpole; Vermont,--scattering along the river sh.o.r.es, quite abundant along the Hoosac in Pownal (Eggleston); Ma.s.sachusetts,--occasional; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--rather common.

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

=Habit.=--A tree of the first magnitude, 50-100 feet and upwards in height, with a diameter of 3-8 feet; reaching in the rich alluvium of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys a maximum of 125 feet in height and a diameter of 20 feet; the largest tree of the New England forest, conspicuous by its great height, ma.s.sive trunk and branches, and by its magnificent, wide-spreading, dome-shaped or pyramidal, open head. The sunlight, streaming through the large-leafed, rusty foliage, reveals the curiously mottled patchwork bark; and the long-stemmed, globular fruit swings to every breeze till spring comes again.

The lower branches are often very long and almost horizontal, and the branchlets frequently have a tufted, broom-like appearance, due probably to the action of a fungous disease on the young growth.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk and large branches dark greenish-gray, sometimes rough and closely adherent, but usually flaking off in broad, thin, brittle scales, exposing the green or buff inner bark, which becomes nearly white on exposure; branchlets light brown, sometimes ridgy towards the ends, marked with numerous inconspicuous dots.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds short, ovate, obtuse, enclosed in the swollen base of a petiole, and, after the fall of the leaf, encircled by the leaf-scar. Leaves simple, alternate, 5-6 inches long, 7-10 wide, p.u.b.escent on both sides when young, at maturity light rusty-green above, light green beneath, finally smooth, turning yellow in autumn, coriaceous; outline reniform; margin coa.r.s.e-toothed or sinuate-lobed, the short lobes ending in a sharp point; base heart-shaped to nearly truncate; leafstalk 1-2 inches long, swollen at the base; stipules sheathing, often united, forming a sort of ruffle.

=Inflorescence.=--May. In crowded spherical heads; flowers of both kinds with insignificant calyx and corolla,--sterile heads from terminal or lateral buds of the preceding season, on short and pendulous stems; stamens few, usually 4, anthers 2-celled: fertile heads from shoots of the season, on long, slender stems, made up of closely compacted ovate ovaries with intermingled scales, ovaries surmounted by hairy one-sided recurved styles, with bright red stigmas.

=Fruit.=--In heads, mostly solitary, about 1 inch in diameter, persistent till spring: nutlets small, hairy, 1-seeded.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a deep, rich, loamy soil near water, but grows in almost any situation; of more rapid growth than almost any other native tree, and formerly planted freely in ornamental grounds and on streets, but fungous diseases disfigure it so seriously, and the late frosts so often kill the young leaves that it is now seldom obtainable in nurseries; usually propagated from seed. The European plane, now largely grown in some nurseries, is a suitable subst.i.tute.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LVI.--Plata.n.u.s occidentalis.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch with sterile and fertile heads.

3. Stamen.

4. Pistil.

5. Fruiting branch.

6. Stipule.

7. Bud with enclosing base of leafstalk.

POMACEae. APPLE FAMILY.

Trees or shrubs; leaves simple or pinnate, mostly alternate, with stipules free from the leafstalk and usually soon falling; flowers regular, perfect; calyx 5-lobed; calyx-tube adnate to ovary; petals 5, inserted on the disk which lines the calyx-tube; stamens usually many, distinct, inserted with the petals; carpels of the ovary 1-5, partially or entirely united with each other; ovules 1-2 in each carpel; styles 1-5; fruit a fleshy pome, often berry-like or drupe-like, formed by consolidation of the carpels with the calyx-tube.

PYRUS. MALUS. AMELANCHIER. CRATaeGUS.

=Pyrus Americana, DC.=

_Sorbus Americana, Marsh._

MOUNTAIN ASH.

=Habitat and Range.=--River banks, cool woods, swamps, and mountains.

Newfoundland to Manitoba.

Maine,--common; New Hampshire,--common along the watersheds of the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers and on the slopes of the White mountains; Vermont,--abundant far up the slopes of the Green mountains; Ma.s.sachusetts,--Graylock, Wachusett, Watatic, and other mountainous regions; rare eastward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,--occasional in the northern sections.

South, in cold swamps and along the mountains to North Carolina; west to Michigan and Minnesota.

=Habit.=--A small tree, 15-20 feet high, often attaining in the woods of northern Maine and on the slopes of the White mountains a height of 25-30 feet, with a trunk diameter of 12-15 inches; reduced at its extreme alt.i.tudes to a low shrub; head, in open ground, pyramidal or roundish; branches spreading and slender.

=Bark.=--Closely resembling bark of _P. sambucifolia_.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.,=--Buds more or less scythe-shaped, acute, smooth, glutinous. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; stem grooved, enlarged at base, reddish-brown above; stipules deciduous; leaflets 11-19, 2-4 inches long, bright green above, paler beneath, smooth, narrow-oblong or lanceolate, the terminal often elliptical, finely and sharply serrate above the base; apex ac.u.minate; base roundish to acute and unequally sided; sessile or nearly so, except in the odd leaflet.

=Inflorescence.=--In terminal, densely compound, large and flattish cymes; calyx 5-lobed; petals 5, white, roundish, short-clawed; stamens numerous; ovary inferior; styles 3.

=Fruit.=--Round, bright red, about the size of a pea, lasting into winter.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; prefers a good, well-drained soil; rate of growth slow and nearly uniform. It is readily transplanted and would be useful on the borders of woods, in plantations of low trees, and in seaside exposures. Rare in nurseries and seldom for sale by collectors. The readily obtainable and more showy European _P.

aucuparia_ is to be preferred for ornamental purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LVII.--Pyrus Americana.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Flowering branch.

3. Flower with part of perianth and stamens removed.

4. Petal.

5. Fruiting branch.

=Pyrus sambucifolia, Cham. & Schlecht.=

_Sorbus sambucifolia, R[oe]m._

MOUNTAIN ASH.

=Habitat and Range.=--Mountain slopes, cool woods, along the sh.o.r.es of rivers and ponds, often a.s.sociated with _P. Americana_, but climbing higher up the mountains.

From Labrador and Nova Scotia west to the Rocky mountains, then northward along the mountain ranges to Alaska.

Maine,--abundant in Aroostook county, Piscataquis county, Somerset county at least north to the Moose river, along the boundary mountains, about the Rangeley lakes and locally on Mount Desert Island; New Hampshire,--in the White mountain region; Vermont,--Mt. Mansfield, Willoughby mountain (Pringle); undoubtedly in other sections of these states; to be looked for along the edges of deep, cool swamps and at considerable elevations.

South of New England, probably only as an escape from cultivation; west through the northern tier of states to the Rocky mountains, thence northward along the mountain ranges to Alaska and south to New Mexico and California.

=Habit.=--A shrub 3-10 feet high, or small tree rising to a height of 15-25 feet, reaching its maximum in northern New England, where it occasionally attains a height of 30-35 feet, with a trunk diameter of 15 inches. It forms an open, wide-spreading, pyramidal or roundish head, resembling the preceding species in the color of bark, in foliage and fruit. Whether these are two distinct species is at the present problematical, as there are many intermediate forms, and the same tree sometimes furnishes specimens that would indubitably be referred to different species.