Trees of the Northern United States Part 25

1. =Styrax Americana=, Lam. (AMERICAN STORAX.) Shrub or small tree (4 to 10 ft.), with oblong, alternate leaves acute at both ends, 1 to 3 inches long, smooth or very nearly so; fruit in. long, in racemes of 3-4. Wild along streams, Virginia and south; occasionally cultivated, and probably hardy throughout.

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. j.a.ponica.]

2. =Styrax j.a.ponica=, Sieb. (j.a.pAN STORAX.) Leaves alternate, membranaceous, ovate to ovate-lanceolate, serrate or crenate, to 3 in.

long, smooth or with short stellate hairs; flowers and fruit in long racemes. A beautiful low tree, 6 to 12 ft. high; from j.a.pan. Hardy as far north as Philadelphia, but needing a little protection in Ma.s.sachusetts and Missouri.

GENUS =57. PTEROSTYRAX.=

Similar to Styrax, but with the fruit in panicles, 5-winged, conical, and crowned with the persistent base of the style.

[Ill.u.s.tration: P. corymbsum.]

=Pterostyrax corymbsum=, Sieb. Leaves deciduous, 2 to 5 in. long, feather-veined, petioled, ovate, rarely cordate at base, sharply serrate, with stellate hairs. Shrub or small tree, 10 to 12 ft. high, cultivated from j.a.pan; with ashy-gray bark, and white flowers turning yellowish or purplish with age; blooming in May, fruit ripe in August.

Not perfectly hardy in Ma.s.sachusetts.

GENUS =58. HALeSIA.=

Small trees or shrubs with alternate, simple, deciduous, serrate leaves.

Flowers large, 1 in. long, conspicuous, white, hanging, bell-shaped, monopetalous, 4-lobed; blooming in spring. Fruit with a single, rough, elongated, bony nut surrounded by a 2- to 4-winged coat; ripe in autumn.

Wood light-colored, very hard and fine-grained.

[Ill.u.s.tration: H. diptera.]

1. =Halesia diptera, L.= (TWO-WINGED SILVERBELL TREE.) Leaves large (4 to 5 in. long), ovate, acute, serrate, softly p.u.b.escent. Fruit with 2 conspicuous, broad wings, sometimes with 2 intermediate narrow ridges. A small tree or a large shrub, wild in the south, and cultivated as far north as New York City.

[Ill.u.s.tration: H. tetraptera.]

2. =Halesia tetraptera, L.= (FOUR-WINGED SILVERBELL TREE.) Leaves smaller (2 to 4 in.), oblong-ovate, finely serrate. Fruit smaller, with 4 nearly equal wings. A small, beautiful tree, 10 to 30 ft. high, more hardy than Halesia diptera, and therefore cultivated occasionally throughout. Wild in Virginia and south.

GENUS =59. SMPLOCOS.=

Shrubs or small trees, with leaves furnishing a yellow dye.

[Ill.u.s.tration: S. tinctria.]

=Smplocos tinctria=, L'Her. (HORSE-SUGAR. SWEETLEAF.) Leaves simple, alternate, thick, 3 to 5 in. long, elongate-oblong, ac.u.minate, nearly entire, almost persistent, pale beneath, with minute p.u.b.escence, sweet-tasting. Flowers 6 to 14, in close-bracted, axillary cl.u.s.ters, 5-parted, sweet-scented, yellow; in early spring. Fruit a dry drupe, ovoid, in. long. A shrub or small tree, 10 to 20 ft. high. Delaware and south.

ORDER =XXIX. OLEaCEae.= (OLIVE FAMILY.)

An order of trees and shrubs, mainly of temperate regions.

GENUS =60. FRaXINUS.=

Trees with petioled, opposite, odd-pinnate leaves (one cultivated variety has simple leaves). Flowers often inconspicuous, in large panicles before the leaves in spring. Fruit single-winged at one end (samara or key-fruit), in large cl.u.s.ters; ripe in autumn. Some trees, owing to the flowers being staminate, produce no fruit. Wood light-colored, tough, very distinctly marked by the annual layers. The leaves appear late in the spring, and fall early in the autumn.

* Flowers with white corolla; a cultivated small tree 8.

* Flowers with no corolla. (=A.=)

=A.= Leaves pinnate; leaflets petiolate; calyx small, persistent on the fruit. (=B.=)

=B.= Fruit broad-winged, in. wide. South 5.

=B.= Wings much narrower. (=C.= )

=C.= Branchlets round and p.u.b.escent 2.

=C.= Branchlets round and smooth. (=D.=)

=D.= Leaflets nearly entire 1.

=D.= Leaflets serrate near tip, entire below 3.

=C.= Branchlets, on vigorous growths, square 4.

=A.= Leaves pinnate; leaflets sessile; no calyx. (=E.=)

=E.= Native; wing of fruit rounded at tip 6.

=E.= Cultivated from Europe; wing notched at tip 7.

=A.= Leaves simple; variety under 7.

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. Americana.]

1. =Fraxinus Americana=, L. (WHITE ASH.) Leaflets 7 to 9 (usually 7), stalked, ovate or lance-oblong, pointed, shining above, pale and either smooth or p.u.b.escent beneath, somewhat toothed or entire. Flowers almost always dioecious (May), thus the fruit is found on but a portion of the trees. The fruit (August to September) terete and marginless below, abruptly dilated into the wing, which is 2 to 3 times as long as the terete portion; entire fruit about 1 in. long. A common large forest-tree, 60 to 80 ft. high, with gray, furrowed bark, smooth, grayish-green branchlets, and rusty-colored buds. Extensively cultivated.

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. p.u.b.escens.]

2. =Fraxinus p.u.b.escens=, Lam. (RED ASH.) Like the White Ash, but to be distinguished from it by the down on the young, green or olive-green twigs, and on the footstalks and lower surface of the leaves. Fruit acute, 2-edged at base, gradually dilated into the wings as in Fraxinus viridis. A smaller and more slender tree than the White Ash; growing in about the same localities, but rare west of the Alleghanies; heart-wood darker-colored.

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. viridis.]

3. =Fraxinus viridis=, Michx. f. (GREEN ASH.) Smooth throughout; leaflets 5 to 9, bright green on both sides, ovate or oblong-lanceolate, often wedge-shaped at base and serrate above. Fruit acute and 2-edged or margined at base and gradually spreading into an oblanceolate or linear-spatulate wing as in the Red Ash. Small to middle-sized trees (like the Red Ash), found throughout, but common westward.

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. quadrangulata.]

4. =Fraxinus quadrangulata=, Michx. (BLUE ASH.) Leaflets 7 to 9, short-stalked, oblong-ovate or lanceolate, pointed, sharply serrate, green on both sides. Fruit narrowly oblong, blunt, of the same width at both ends, or slightly narrowed at the base. A large tree, 60 to 80 ft.

high, with smooth square twigs on the vigorous growths. Wisconsin to Ohio and Kentucky.

[Ill.u.s.tration: F. platycarpa.]