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HANDBOOK OF THE TREES OF NEW ENGLAND
WITH RANGES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA
BY LORIN L. DAME, S.D. AND HENRY BROOKS
PLATES FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY ELIZABETH GLEASON BIGELOW
BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS The Athenaeum Press 1904
COPYRIGHT, 1901, BY LORIN L. DAME AND HENRY BROOKS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PREFACE.
There is no lack of good manuals of botany in this country. There still seems place for an adequately illustrated book of convenient size for field use. The larger manuals, moreover, cover extensive regions and sometimes fail by reason of their universality to give a definite idea of plants as they grow within more limited areas. New England marks a meeting place of the Canadian and Alleghanian floras. Many southern plants, long after they have abandoned more elevated situations northward, continue to advance up the valleys of the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers, in which they ultimately disappear entirely or else reappear in the valley of the St. Lawrence; while many northern plants pushing southward maintain a more or less precarious existence upon the mountain summits or in the cold swamps of New England, and sometimes follow along the mountain ridges to the middle or southern states. In addition to these two floras, some southwestern and western species have invaded Vermont along the Champlain valley, and thrown out pickets still farther eastward.
At or near the limit of a species, the size and habit of plants undergo great change; in the case of trees, to which this book is restricted, often very noticeable. There is no fixed, absolute dividing line between trees and shrubs. In accordance with the usual definition, a tree must have a single trunk, unbranched at or near the base, and must be at least fifteen feet in height.
Trees that are native in New England, or native in other sections of the United States and thoroughly established in New England, are described and, for the most part, figured. Foreign trees, though locally established, are not figured. Trees may be occasionally spontaneous over a large area without really forming a constituent part of the flora. Even the apple and pear, when originating spontaneously and growing without cultivation, quickly become degenerate and show little tendency to possess themselves of the soil at the expense of the native growths. Gleditsia, for example, while clearly locally established, has with some hesitation been accorded pictorial representation.
The geographical distribution is treated under three heads: Canada and Alaska; New England; south of New England and westward. With regard to the distribution outside of New England, the standard authorities have been followed. An effort extending through several years has been made to give the distribution as definitely as possible in each of the New England states, and while previous publications have been freely consulted, the present work rests mainly upon the observations of living botanists.
All descriptions are based upon the habit of trees as they appear in New England, unless special mention is made to the contrary. The descriptions are designed to apply to trees as they grow in open land, with full space for the development of their characteristics under favorable conditions. In forest trees there is much greater uniformity; the trunks are more slender, taller, often unbranched to a considerable height, and the heads are much smaller.
When the trunk tapers uniformly from the ground upward, the given diameter is taken at the base; when the trunk is reinforced at the base, the measurements are made above the swell of the roots; when reinforced at the ground and also at the branching point, as often in the American elm, the measurements are made at the smallest place between the swell of the roots and of the branches.
A regular order has been followed in the description for the purpose of ready comparison. No explanation of the headings used seems necessary, except to state that the habitat is used in the more customary present acceptation to indicate the place where a plant naturally grows, as in swamps or upon dry hillsides. Under the head of "Horticultural Value," the requisite information is given for an intelligent choice of trees for ornamental purposes.
The order and names of families follow, in the main, Engler and Prantl. In accordance with the general tendency of New England botanists to conform to the best usage until an authoritative agreement has been reached with regard to nomenclature by an international congress, the Berlin rule has been followed for genera, and priority under the genus for species. Other names in use at the present day are given as synonyms and included in the index.
Only those common names are given which are actually used in some part of New England, whether or not the same name is applied to different trees. It seems best to record what is, and not what ought to be. Common names that are the creation of botanists have been disregarded altogether. Any attempt to displace a name in wide use, even by one that is more appropriate, is futile, if not mischievous.
The plates are from original drawings by Mrs. Elizabeth Gleason Bigelow, in all cases from living specimens, and they have been carefully compared with the plates in other works. So far as practicable, the drawings were made of life size, with the exception of the dissected portions of small flowers, which were enlarged. In this way, though not on a perfectly uniform scale, they are, when reduced to the necessary space, distinct in all their parts.
So far as consistent with due precision, popular terms have been used in description, but not when such usage involved tedious periphrase.
Especial mention should be made of those botanists whose assistance has been essential to a knowledge of the distribution of species in the New England states: Maine,—Mr. M. L. Fernald; New Hampshire,—Mr. Wm. F. Flint, Report of Forestry Commission; Vermont,—President Ezra Brainerd; Massachusetts,—trees about Northampton, Mrs. Emily Hitchcock Terry; throughout the Connecticut river valley, Mr. E. L. Morris; Rhode Island,—Professor W. W. Bailey, Professor J. F. Collins; Connecticut,—Mr. C. H. Bissell, Mr. C. K. Averill, Mr. J. N. Bishop. Dr. B. L. Robinson has given advice in general treatment and in matters of nomenclature; Dr. C. W. Swan and Mr. Charles H. Morss have made a critical examination of the manuscript; Mr. Warren H. Manning has contributed the "Horticultural Values" throughout the work; and Miss M. S. E. James has prepared the index. To these and to all others who have given assistance in the preparation of this work, the grateful thanks of the authors are due.
CONTENTS.
PAGES KEY TO THE TREES OF NEW ENGLAND ix
LIST OF PLATES xi
AUTHORITIES xiii
ABBREVIATIONS xvii
TEXT AND PLATES 1
APPENDIX 171
GLOSSARY 173
INDEX 179
KEY TO THE TREES OF NEW ENGLAND.
I. LEAVES SIMPLE.
Leaves alternate A Outline entire A C Outline slightly indented A D Outline lobed A E Lobes entire A E F Lobes slightly indented A E G Lobes coarsely toothed A E H Leaves opposite B
A C Ovate to oval, obscurely toothed Tupelo A C Ovate to oval Persimmon A C Also 3-lobed Sassafras A C Sometimes opposite, clustered at the ends of the branchlets Dogwoods A D Tremulous habit, oval Poplars A D Lanceolate, finely serrate, sometimes entire Willows A D Ovate-oval, serrate, doubly serrate { Birches { Hornbeams A D Oval, serrate, oblong-lanceolate, veins { Beeches terminating in teeth { Chestnut A D Ovate-oblong, doubly serrate, surface rough Elms A D Ovate to ovate-lanceolate, serrate, surface slightly rough Hackberry A D Outline variable, ovate-oval, sometimes lobed (3-7), serrate-dentate Mulberry A D Ovate, serrate, oblong { Shadbush { Plums { Cherries A D Oval or oval-oblong, spines, evergreen Holly A D Broad-ovate, one-sided, serrate Linden A D Obovate, oval, lanceolate, oblong Chestnut oaks A D Broad-ovate to broad-elliptical, thorny Thorns A E F Lobes rounded Sassafras A E F Base truncate or heart-shaped Tulip tree A E F Obtuse, rounded lobes White oaks A E F 3-5-lobed, white-tomentose to glabrous beneath White poplar A E G 5-lobed, finely serrate Sweet gum A E G Irregularly 3-7-lobed, serrate-dentate with equal teeth Mulberry A E H Pointed or bristle-tipped lobes Black oaks A E H Coarse-toothed or pinnate-lobed, short lobes ending in sharp point Sycamore B Outline entire, ovate, veins prominent Flowering dogwood B Outline serrate, apex often tapering Sheep berry B Outline lobed Maples
II. LEAVES COMPOUND.
Leaves pinnately compound I Leaflets alternate I A Outlines of leaflets entire I A C Leaflets opposite I B Leaves bi-pinnately compound J
I A Outlines of leaflets with two or three teeth at base. Ailanthus IA Outlines of leaflets serrate { Sumacs (except Poison sumac) { Mountain ashes { Walnuts { Hickories I A C Leaflets oval, apex obtuse Locusts (except Honey locust) I A C Leaflets oblong, apex acute Poison sumac I B Outlines of leaflets entire Ashes (except Mountain ashes) I B Outlines of leaflets serrate Ashes (except Mountain ashes) I B Leaflets irregularly or coarsely toothed, 3-lobed or nearly entire Box elder J Irregularly bi-pinnate, outlines of leaflets entire, thorns on stem and trunk Honey locust
LIST OF PLATES.
PLATE PAGE
I. Larix Americana 4 II. Pinus Strobus 6 III. Pinus rigida 7 IV. Pinus Banksiana 9 V. Pinus resinosa 11 VI. Picea nigra 14 VII. Picea rubra 16 VIII. Picea alba 18 IX. Tsuga Canadensis 20 X. Abies balsamea 22 XI. Thuja occidentalis 24 XII. Cupressus thyoides 26 XIII. Juniperus Virginiana 28 XIV. Populus tremuloides 30 XV. Populus grandidentata 32 XVI. Populus heterophylla 34 XVII. Populus deltoides 35 XVIII. Populus balsamifera 37 XIX. Populus candicans 39 XX. Salix discolor 41 XXI. Salix nigra 43 XXII. Juglans cinerea 47 XXIII. Juglans nigra 49 XXIV. Carya alba 51 XXV. Carya tomentosa 53 XXVI. Carya porcina 55 XXVII. Carya amara 57 XXVIII. Ostrya Virginica 58 XXIX. Carpinus Caroliniana 60 XXX. Betula lenta 62 XXXI. Betula lutea 64 XXXII. Betula nigra 66 XXXIII. Betula populifolia 68 XXXIV. Betula papyrifera 70 XXXV. Fagus ferruginea 72 XXXVI. Castanea sativa, var. Americana 74 XXXVII. Quercus alba 77 XXXVIII. Quercus stellata 78 XXXIX. Quercus macrocarpa 80 XL. Quercus bicolor 82 XLI. Quercus Prinus 84 XLII. Quercus Muhlenbergii 85 XLIII. Quercus rubra 87 XLIV. Quercus coccinea 89 XLV. Quercus velutina 91 XLVI. Quercus palustris 93 XLVII. Quercus ilicifolia 94 XLVIII. Ulmus Americana 97 XLIX. Ulmus fulva 98 L. Ulmus racemosa 100 LI. Celtis occidentalis 102 LII. Morus rubra 103 LIII. Liriodendron Tulipifera 103 LIV. Sassafras officinale 108 LV. Liquidambar Styraciflua 109 LVI. Platanus occidentalis 111 LVII. Pyrus Americana 113 LVIII. Pyrus sambucifolia 115 LIX. Amelanchier Canadensis 117 LX. Crataegus mollis 121 LXI. Prunus nigra 123 LXII. Prunus Americana 124 LXIII. Prunus Pennsylvanica 125 LXIV. Prunus Virginiana 126 LXV. Prunus serotina 128 LXVI. Gleditsia triacanthos 130 LXVII. Robinia Pseudacacia 132 LXVIII. Rhus typhina 135 LXIX. Rhus Vernix 137 LXX. Ilex opaca 140 LXXI. Acer rubrum 142 LXXII. Acer saccharinum 144 LXXIII. Acer Saccharum 146 LXXIV. Acer Saccharum var. nigrum 147 LXXV. Acer spicatum 149 LXXVI. Acer Pennsylvanicum 151 LXXVII. Acer Negundo 153 LXXVIII. Tilia Americana 155 LXXIX. Cornus florida 157 LXXX. Cornus alternifolia 158 LXXXI. Nyssa sylvatica 160 LXXXII. Diospyros Virginiana 162 LXXXIII. Fraxinus Americana 164 LXXXIV. Fraxinus Pennsylvanica 165 LXXXV. Fraxinus Pennsylvanica. var. lanceolata 166 LXXXVI. Fraxinus nigra 168 LXXXVII. Viburnum Lentago 169
BOTANICAL AUTHORITIES.
PAGE ATKINS, C. G. Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
AVERILL, C. K. v
Populus balsamifera, L. (Rhodora, II, 35) 36
Prunus Americana, Marsh. 123
Quercus Muhlenbergii, Engelm. 84
BAILEY, L. H. Populus candicans, Ait. 37
BAILEY, W. W. Celtis occidentalis, L. 100
Fraxinus Pennsylvanica, var. lanceolata, Sarg. 166
BARTRAM, WILLIAM Quercus tinctoria (1791) 89
BATCHELDER, F. W. Betula nigra, L. 65
Salix discolor, Muhl. (Laconia, N. H.) 41
BATES, J. A. Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
Sassafras officinale, Nees 106
BISHOP, J. N. v
Celtis occidentalis, L. 100
Fraxinus Pennsylvanica, Marsh. 164
Fraxinus Pennsylvanica, var. lanceolata, Sarg. 166
Juglans nigra, L. (in lit., 1896) 48
Morus rubra, L. 102
Populus heterophylla, L. 33
Quercus Muhlenbergii, Engelm. 84
Thuja occidentalis, L. 23
BISSELL, C. H. v
Crataegus Crus-Galli, L. 117
Pinus sylvestris, L. (in lit., 1899) 12
Prunus Americana, Marsh. (in lit., 1900) 123
Rhus copallina 137
BRAINERD, EZRA Carya porcina, Nutt. 53
Crataegus punctata, Jacq. 118
Ulmus racemosa, Thomas 99
BREWSTER, WILLIAM Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
BRITTON, NATHANIEL LORD Acer Saccharum, var. nigrum 172
BROWNE, D. T. Ilex opaca (Trees of North America, 1846) 139
Bulletin Torrey Botanical Club, XVIII, 150
Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
CHAMBERLAIN, E. B. Ulmus fulva, Michx. (1898) 97
CHURCHILL, J. R. Prunus Americana, Marsh. 123
COLLINS, J. F. v Gleditsia triacanthos, L. 129
DAME. L. L. Crataegus Crus-Galli, L. 171 Salix fragilis, L. (Typical Elms and other Trees of Massachusetts, p. 85) 44
DAY, F. M. Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
DEANE, WALTER Sassafras officinale, Nees (1895) 106
DUDLEY, W. R. Populus heterophylla, L. 33
EGGLESTON, W.W. Carya porcina, Nutt. 53 Celtis occidentalis, L. 100 Morus rubra, L. 102 Platanus occidentalis, L. 110 Populus deltoides, Marsh. 34 Sassafras officinale, Nees. 106 Ulmus racemosa, Thomas. 99
ENGLER, ADOLPH v
FERNALD, M. L. Fraxinus Pennsylvania, Marsh, var. lanceolata, Sarg. (in lit., Sept., 1901) 172 Gleditsia triacanthos, L. 129 Populus balsamifera, L. var. candicans, Gray (Rhodora. III, 233) 171 Salix balsamifera, Barratt. 171 Salix discolor, Muhl. (in lit., Sept., 1901) 171
FLAGG Morus rubra, L. 102
FLINT, W. F. v Acer Negundo, L. 151 Quercus alba, L. 75
Flora of Vermont Betula lenta, L. (1900) 61 Crataegus Crus-Galli, L. (1900) 117 Fraxinus Pennsylvanica, Marsh. (1900) 164 Picea nigra, Link (1900) 12 Pinus rigida, Mill (1900) 6 Populus deltoides, Marsh. (1900) 34 Quercus alba, L. (1900) 75
FURBISH, MISS KATE Crataegus coccinea, L. (May, 1899) 119 Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
GOODALE, G. L. Pinus Banksiana. Lamb 8
GRANT Sassafras officinale, Nees 106
GRAY, ASA Ilex opaca, Ait. (Manual of Botany, 6th ed.) 138
HAINES, MRS. Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
HARGER, E. B. Picea nigra (Rhodora, II, 126) 13
HARPER, R. M. Liriodendron Tulipifera, L. (Rhodora II, 122) 104
HARRINGTON, A. K. Picea alba, Link 17
HASKINS, T. H. Ulmus racemosa, Thomas (Garden and Forest, V, 86) 99
HOLMES, DR. EZEKIEL Nyssa sylvatica, Marsh 159
HOSFORD, F. H. Crataegus mollis, Scheele 120
HOYT, MISS FANNY E. Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
HUMPHREY, J. E. Picea alba, Link 17 Quercus palustris, Du Roi (Amherst Trees) 91
JACK, J. G. Crataegus coccinea, L. (1899-1900) 119
JESSUP, HENRY GRISWOLD Carya amara, Nutt 55 Ulmus racemosa, Thomas 99
JOSSELYN, JOHN Sassafras officinale, Nees (New England Rarities, 1672) 106
KNOWLTON, C. H. Pinus rigida, Mill. (Rhodora, II, 124) 6
MANNING, WARREN H. vi
MATTHEWS, F. SCHUYLER Morus rubra. L. 102
MICHAUX, FILS, FRANCOIS ANDRE Ulmus fulva (Sylva of North America, III, ed. 1853) 97
MORRIS, E. L. v
MORSS, CHARLES H. vi
OAKES, WILLIAM Morus rubra, L. 102
PARLIN, J. C. Sassafras officinale, Nees (1896) 106
PRANTL, KARL VON v
PRINGLE, C. G. Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8 Pyrus sambucifolia, Cham. & Schlecht 113 Quercus Muhlenbergii, Engelm 84
RAND, E. L. Pinus Banksiana 8
Rhodora, III, 234 Acer Saccharum, Marsh., var. barbatum, Trelease 172 Acer Saccharum, Marsh., var. nigrum, Britton 172
Rhodora, III, 58 Ilex opaca, Ait. 139
Rhodora, III, 234 Prunus Americana, Marsh 171
ROBBINS, JAMES W. Sassafras officinale, Nees 106 Ulmus racemosa, Thomas 99
ROBINSON, DR. B. L. vi
ROBINSON, JOHN Crataegus coccinea, L. (1900) 119
ROBINSON, R. E. Pinus Banksiana, Lamb 8
RUSSELL, L. W. Diospyros Virginiana. L. 161 Quercus palustris, Du Roi 92 Quercus stellata. Wang 77
SARGENT, CHARLES S. Crataegus coccinea, L. (Botanical Gazette, XXXI, 12, 1901, by permission) 119 Crataegus mollis, Scheele (Botanical Gazette. XXXI, 7, 223, 1901) 121
SETCHELL, W. A. Populus heterophylla. L. 33
STONE, W. E. Quercus palustris. Du Roi (Bull. Torr. Club, IX, 57) 91
SWAN, DR. C. W. vi
TERRY, MRS. EMILY H. Picea alba. Link 17
TRELEASE, WILLIAM Acer Saccharum, Marsh., var. barbatum 172
TUCKERMAN, EDWARD Betula papyrifera, var. minor, Marsh. 68
WAGHORNE, A. C. Crataegus coccinea, L. (1894) 119
ABBREVIATIONS.
Ait.—Aiton, William.
Barratt, Joseph. B. S. P.—Britton, Nathaniel Lord, Sterns, E. E., and Poggenburg, Justus F. Borkh.—Borkhausen, M. B.
Carr.—Carriere, Eli Abel. Cham.—Chamisso, Adelbert von. Coulter, John Merle.
DC.—De Candolle, Augustin Pyramus. Desf.—Desfontaines, Rene Louiche. Du Roi, Johann Philip.
Ehrh.—Ehrhart, Friedrich. Engelm.—Engelmann, George.
Gray, Asa.
Jacq.—Jacquin, Nicholaus Joseph.
Karst.—Karsten, Hermann Gustav Karl Wilhelm. Koch, Wilhelm Daniel Joseph.
L.—Linnaeus, Carolus. L. f.—Linnaeus, fils, Carl von. Lam.—Lamarck, J. B. P. A. de Monet. Lamb, Aylmer Bourke. Link, Heinrich Friedrich.
Marsh.—Marshall, Humphrey. Medic.—Medicus, Friedrich Casimir. Michx.—Michaux, Andre. Michaux, fils.—Francois Andre. Mill.—Miller, Philip. Moench, Konrad. Muhl.—Muhlenberg, H. Ernst.
Nees—Nees von Esenbeck, C. G. Nutt.—Nuttall, Thomas.
Peck, Charles H. Poggenburg, Justus F. Pursh, Friedrich Trangott.
Roem.—Roemer, Johann Jacob.
Sarg.—Sargent, Charles S. Scheele, A. Schlecht—Schlechtendal, D. F. L. von. Schr.—Schrader, Heinrich A. Spach, Eduard. Sterns, E. E. Sudw.—Sudworth, George B. Sweet, Robert.
T. and G.—Torrey, John, and Gray, Asa. Thomas, David.
Vent.—Ventenat, Etienne Pierre.
Walt.—Walter, Thomas. Wang.—Wangenheim, F. A. J. von. Watson, Sereno. Waugh, Frank A. Willd.—Willdenow, Carl Ludwig.
TREES OF NEW ENGLAND.
PINOIDEAE. PINE FAMILY. CONIFERS.
ABIETACEAE. CUPRESSACEAE.
Trees or shrubs, resinous; leaves simple, mostly evergreen, relatively small, entire, needle-shaped, awl-shaped, linear, or scale-like; stipules none; flowers catkin-like; calyx none; corolla none; ovary represented by a scale (ovuliferous scale) bearing the naked ovules on its surface.
ABIETACEAE.
LARIX. PINUS. PICEA. TSUGA. ABIES.
Buds scaly; leaves evergreen and persistent for several years (except in Larix), scattered along the twigs, spirally arranged or tufted, linear, needle-shaped, or scale-like; sterile and fertile flowers separate upon the same plant; stamens (subtended by scales) spirally arranged upon a central axis, each bearing two pollen-sacs surmounted by a broad-toothed connective; fertile flowers composed of spirally arranged bracts or cover-scales, each bract subtending an ovuliferous scale; cover-scale and ovuliferous scale attached at their bases; cover-scale usually remaining small, ovuliferous scale enlarging, especially after fertilization, gradually becoming woody or leathery and bearing two ovules at its base; cones maturing (except in Pinus) the first year; ovuliferous scales in fruit usually known as cone-scales; seeds winged; roots mostly spreading horizontally at a short distance below the surface.
CUPRESSACEAE.
THUJA. CUPRESSUS. JUNIPERUS.
Leaf-buds not scaly; leaves evergreen and persistent for several years, opposite, verticillate, or sometimes scattered, scale-like, often needle-shaped in seedlings and sometimes upon the branches of older plants; flowers minute; stamens and pistils in separate blossoms upon the same plant or upon different plants; stamens usually bearing 3-5 pollen-sacs on the underside; scales of fertile aments few, opposite or ternate; fruit small cones, or berries formed by coalescence of the fleshy cone-scales; otherwise as in Abietaceae.
Larix Americana, Michx.
Larix laricina, Koch.
TAMARACK. HACMATACK. LARCH. JUNIPER.
Habitat and Range.—Low lands, shaded hillsides, borders of ponds; in New England preferring cold swamps; sometimes far up mountain slopes.
Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, west to the Rocky mountains; from the Rockies through British Columbia, northward along the Yukon and Mackenzie systems, to the limit of tree growth beyond the Arctic circle.
Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont,—abundant, filling swamps acres in extent, alone or associated with other trees, mostly black spruce; growing depressed and scattered on Katahdin at an altitude of 4000 feet; Massachusetts,—rather common, at least northward; Rhode Island,—not reported; Connecticut,—occasional in the northern half of the state; reported as far south as Danbury (Fairfield county).
South along the mountains to New Jersey and Pennsylvania; west to Minnesota.
Habit.—The only New England conifer that drops its leaves in the fall; a tree 30-70 feet high, reduced at great elevations to a height of 1-2 feet, or to a shrub; trunk 1-3 feet in diameter, straight, slender; branches very irregular or in indistinct whorls, for the most part nearly horizontal; often ending in long spire-like shoots; branchlets numerous, head conical, symmetrical while the tree is young, especially when growing in open swamps; when old extremely variable, occasionally with contorted or drooping limbs; foliage pale green, turning to a dull yellow in autumn.
Bark.—Bark of trunk reddish or grayish brown, separating at the surface into small roundish scales in old trees, in young trees smooth; season's shoots gray or light brown in autumn.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds small, globular, reddish.
Leaves simple, scattered along the season's shoots, clustered on the short, thick dwarf branches, about an inch long, pale green, needle-shaped; apex obtuse; sessile.
Inflorescence.—March to April. Flowers lateral, solitary, erect; the sterile from leafless, the fertile from leafy dwarf branches; sterile roundish, sessile; anthers yellow: fertile oblong, short-stalked; bracts crimson or red.
Fruit.—Cones upon dwarf branches, erect or inclining upwards, ovoid to cylindrical, 1/2-3/4 of an inch long, purplish or reddish brown while growing, light brown at maturity, persistent for at least a year; scales thin, obtuse to truncate; edge entire, minutely toothed or erose; seeds small, winged.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England; grows in any good soil, preferring moist locations; the formal outline of the young trees becomes broken, irregular, and picturesque with age, making the mature tree much more attractive than the European species common to cultivation. Rarely for sale in nurseries, but obtainable from collectors. To be successfully transplanted, it must be handled when dormant. Propagated from seed.
Note.—The European species, with which the mature plant is often confused, has somewhat longer leaves and larger cones; a form common in cultivation has long, pendulous branches.
1. Branch with sterile and fertile flowers. 2. Sterile flowers. 3. Different views of stamens. 4. Ovuliferous scale with ovules. 5. Fruiting branch. 6. Open cone. 7. Cone-scale with seeds. 8. Leaf. 9. Cross-section of leaf.
PINUS.
The leaves are of two kinds, primary and secondary; the primary are thin, deciduous scales, in the axils of which the secondary leaf-buds stand; the inner scales of those leaf-buds form a loose, deciduous sheath which encloses the secondary or foliage leaves, which in our species are all minutely serrulate.
Pinus Strobus, L.
WHITE PINE.
Habitat and Range.—In fertile soils; moist woodlands or dry uplands.
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, through Quebec and Ontario, to Lake Winnipeg.
New England,—common, from the vicinity of the seacoast to altitudes of 2500 feet, forming extensive forests.
South along the mountains to Georgia, ascending to 2500 feet in the Adirondacks and to 4300 in North Carolina; west to Minnesota and Iowa.
Habit.—The tallest tree and the stateliest conifer of the New England forest, ordinarily from 50 to 80 feet high and 2-4 feet in diameter at the ground, but in northern New England, where patches of the primeval forest still remain, attaining a diameter of 3-7 feet and a height ranging from 100 to 150 feet, rising in sombre majesty far above its deciduous neighbors; trunk straight, tapering very gradually; branches nearly horizontal, wide-spreading, in young trees in whorls usually of five, the whorls becoming more or less indistinct in old trees; branchlets and season's shoots slender; head cone-shaped, broad at the base, clothed with soft, delicate, bluish-green foliage; roots running horizontally near the surface, taking firm hold in rocky situations, extremely durable when exposed.
Bark.—On trunks of old trees thick, shallow-channeled, broad-ridged; on stems of young trees and upon branches smooth, greenish; season's shoots at first rusty-scurfy or puberulent, in late autumn becoming smooth and light russet brown.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leading branch-buds 1/4-1/2 inch long, oblong or ovate-oblong, sharp-pointed; scales yellowish-brown.
Foliage leaves in clusters of five, slender, 3-5 inches long, soft bluish-green, needle-shaped, 3-sided, mucronate, each with a single fibrovascular bundle, sessile.
Inflorescence.—June. Sterile flowers at the base of the season's shoots, in clusters, each flower about one inch long, oval, light brown; stamens numerous; connectives scale-like: fertile flowers near the terminal bud of the season's shoots, long-stalked, cylindrical; scales pink-margined.
Fruit.—Cones, 4-6 inches long, short-stalked, narrow-cylindrical, often curved, finally pendent, green, maturing the second year; scales rather loose, scarcely thickened at the apex, not spiny; seeds winged, smooth.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; free from disease; grows well in almost any soil, but prefers a light fertile loam; in open ground retains its lower branches for many years. Good plants, grown from seed, are usually readily obtainable in nurseries; small collected plants from open ground can be moved in sods with little risk.
Several horticultural forms are occasionally cultivated which are distinguished by variations in foliage, trailing branches, dense and rounded heads, and dwarfed or cylindrical habits of growth.
PLATE II. PINUS STROBUS.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Stamen. 3. Branch with fertile flowers. 4. Bract and ovuliferous scale, outer side. 5. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 6. Branch with cones. 7. Cross-section of leaf.
Pinus rigida, Mill.
PITCH PINE. HARD PINE.
Habitat and Range.—Most common in dry, sterile soils, occasional in swamps.
New Brunswick to Lake Ontario.
Maine,—mostly in the southwestern section near the seacoast; as far north as Chesterville, Franklin county (C. H. Knowlton, Rhodora, II, 124); scarcely more than a shrub near its northern limits; New Hampshire,—most common along the Merrimac valley to the White mountains and up the Connecticut valley to the mouth of the Passumpsic, reaching an altitude of 1000 feet above the sea level; Vermont,—common in the northern Champlain valley, less frequent in the Connecticut valley (Flora of Vermont, 1900); common in the other New England states, often forming large tracts of woodland, sometimes exclusively occupying extensive areas.
South to Virginia and along the mountains to northern Georgia; west to western New York, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
Habit.—Usually a low tree, from 30 to 50 feet high, with a diameter of 1-2 feet at the ground, but not infrequently rising to 70-80 feet, with a diameter of 2-4 feet; trunk straight or more or less tortuous, tapering rather rapidly; branches rising at a wide angle with the stem, often tortuous, and sometimes drooping at the extremities, distinctly whorled in young trees, but gradually losing nearly every trace of regularity; roughest of our pines, the entire framework rough at every stage of growth; head variable, open, often scraggly, widest near the base and sometimes dome-shaped in young trees; branchlets stout, terminating in rigid, spreading tufts of foliage.
Bark.—Bark of trunk in old trees thick, deeply furrowed, with broad connecting ridges, separating on the surface into coarse dark grayish or reddish brown scales; younger stems and branches very rough, separating into scales; season's shoots rough to the tips.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leading branch-buds 1/2-3/4 inch long, narrow-cylindrical or ovate, acute at the apex, resin-coated; scales brownish.
Foliage leaves in threes, 3-5 inches long, stout, stiff, dark yellowish-green, 3-sided, sharp-pointed, with two fibrovascular bundles; sessile; sheaths when young about 1/2 inch long.
Inflorescence.—Sterile flowers at the base of the season's shoots, clustered; stamens numerous; anthers yellow: fertile flowers at a slight angle with and along the sides of the season's shoots, single or clustered.
Fruit.—Cones lateral, single or in clusters, nearly or quite sessile, finally at right angles to the stem or twisted slightly downward, ovoid, ovate-conical; subspherical when open, ripening the second season; scales thickened at the apex, armed with stout, straight or recurved prickles.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; well adapted to exposed situations on highlands or along the seacoast; grows in almost any soil, but thrives best in sandy or gravelly moist loams; valuable among other trees for color-effects and occasional picturesqueness of outline; mostly uninteresting and of uncertain habit; subject to the loss of the lower limbs, and not readily transplanted; very seldom offered in quantity by nurserymen; obtainable from collectors, but collected plants are seldom successful. Usually propagated from the seed.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Stamen, front view. 3. Stamen, top view. 4. Branch with fertile flowers. 5. Fertile flower showing bract and ovuliferous scale, outer side. 6. Fertile flower showing ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 7. Fruiting branch with cones one and two years old. 8. Open cone. 9. Seed. 10. Cross-section of leaf.
Pinus Banksiana, Lamb.
Pinus divaricata. Sudw.
SCRUB PINE. GRAY PINE. SPRUCE PINE. JACK PINE.
Habitat and Range.—Sterile, sandy soil: lowlands, boggy plains, rocky slopes.
Nova Scotia, northwesterly to the Athabasca river, and northerly down the Mackenzie to the Arctic circle.
Maine,—Traveller mountain and Grand lake (G. L. Goodale); Beal's island on Washington county coast, Harrington, Orland, and Cape Rosier (C. G. Atkins); Schoodic peninsula in Gouldsboro, a forest 30 feet high (F. M. Day, E. L. Rand, et al.); Flagstaff (Miss Kate Furbush); east branch of Penobscot (Mrs. Haines); the Forks (Miss Fanny E. Hoyt); Lake Umbagog (Wm. Brewster); New Hampshire,—around the shores of Lake Umbagog, on points extending into the lake, rare (Wm. Brewster in lit., 1899); Welch mountains (Bull. Torr. Bot. Club, XVIII, 150); Vermont,—rare, but few trees at each station; Monkton in Addison county (R. E. Robinson); Fairfax, Franklin county (Bates); Starkesboro (Pringle).
West through northern New York, northern Illinois, and Michigan to Minnesota.
Habit.—Usually a low tree, 15-30 feet high and 6-8 inches in diameter at the ground, but under favorable conditions, as upon the wooded points and islands of Lake Umbagog, attaining a height of 50-60 feet, with a diameter of 10-15 inches. Extremely variable in habit. In thin soils and upon bleak sites the trunk is for the most part crooked and twisted, the head scrubby, stunted, and variously distorted, resembling in shape and proportions the pitch pine under similar conditions. In deeper soils, and in situations protected from the winds, the stem is erect, slender, and tapering, surmounted by a stately head with long, flexible branches, scarcely less regular in outline than the spruce. Foliage yellowish-green, bunched at the ends of the branchlets.
Bark.—Bark of trunk in old trees dark brown, rounded-ridged, rough-scaly at the surface; branchlets dark purplish-brown, rough with the persistent bases of the fallen leaves; season's shoots yellowish-green, turning to reddish-brown.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Branch-buds light brown, ovate, apex acute or rounded, usually enclosed in resin.
Leaves in twos, divergent from a short close sheath, about 1 inch in length and scarcely 1/12 inch in width, yellowish-green, numerous, stiff, curved or twisted, cross-section showing two fibrovascular bundles; outline narrowly linear; apex sharp-pointed; outer surface convex, inner concave or flat.
Inflorescence.—June. Sterile flowers at the base of the season's shoots, clustered, oblong-rounded: fertile flowers along the sides or about the terminal buds of the season's shoots, single, in twos or in clusters; bracts ovate, roundish, purplish.
Fruit.—Cones often numerous, 1-2 inches long, pointing in the general direction of the twig on which they grow, frequently curved at the tip, whitish-yellow when young, and brown at maturity; scales when mature without prickles, thickened at the apex; outline very irregular but in general oblong-conical. The open cones, which are usually much distorted, with scales at base closed, have a similar outline.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England; slow growing and hard to transplant; useful in poor soil; seldom offered by nurserymen or collectors. Propagated from seed.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Stamen, front view. 3. Stamen, top view. 4. Branch with fertile flowers. 5. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 6. Fruiting branch. 7. Open cone. 8, 9. Variant leaves. 10, 11. Cross-sections of leaves.
Pinus resinosa, Ait.
RED PINE. NORWAY PINE.
Habitat and Range.—In poor soils: sandy plains, dry woods.
Newfoundland and New Brunswick, throughout Quebec and Ontario, to the southern end of Lake Winnipeg.
Maine,—common, plains, Brunswick (Cumberland county); woods, Bristol (Lincoln county); from Amherst (western part of Hancock county) and Clifton (southeastern part of Penobscot county) northward just east of the Penobscot river the predominant tree, generally on dry ridges and eskers, but in Greenbush and Passadumkeag growing abundantly on peat bogs with black spruce; hillsides and lower mountains about Moosehead, scattered; New Hampshire,—ranges with the pitch pine as far north as the White mountains, but is less common, usually in groves of a few to several hundred acres in extent; Vermont,—less common than P. Strobus or P. rigida, but not rare; Massachusetts,—still more local, in stations widely separated, single trees or small groups; Rhode Island,—occasional; Connecticut,—not reported.
South to Pennsylvania; west through Michigan and Wisconsin to Minnesota.
Habit.—The most beautiful of the New England pines, 50-75 feet high, with a diameter of 2-3 feet at the ground; reaching in Maine a height of 100 feet and upwards; trunk straight, scarcely tapering; branches low, stout, horizontal or scarcely declined, forming a broad-based, rounded or conical head of great beauty when young, becoming more or less irregular with age; foliage of a rich dark green, in long dense tufts at the ends of the branches.
Bark.—Bark of trunk reddish-brown, in old trees marked by flat ridges which separate on the surface into thin, flat, loose scales; branchlets rough with persistent bases of leaf buds; season's shoots stout, orange-brown, smooth.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leading branch-buds conical, about 3/4 inch long, tapering to a sharp point, reddish-brown, invested with rather loose scales.
Foliage leaves in twos, from close, elongated, persistent, and conspicuous sheaths, about 6 inches long, dark green, needle-shaped, straight, sharply and stiffly pointed, the outer surface round and the inner flattish, both surfaces marked by lines of minute pale dots.
Inflorescence.—Sterile flowers clustered at the base of the season's shoots, oblong, 1/2-3/4 inch long: fertile flowers single or few, at the ends of the season's shoots.
Fruit.—Cones near extremity of shoot, at right angles to the stem, maturing the second year, 1-3 inches long, ovate to oblong conical; when opened broadly oval or roundish; scales not hooked or pointed, thickened at the apex.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England; a tall, dark-foliaged evergreen, for which there is no substitute; grows rapidly in all well-drained soils and in exposed inland or seashore situations; seldom disfigured by insects or disease; difficult to transplant and not common in nurseries. Propagated from seed.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Stamen, front view. 3. Stamen, top view. 4. Branch with fertile flowers and one-year-old cones. 5. Bract and ovuliferous scale, outer side. 6. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 7. Fruiting branch showing cones of three different seasons. 8. Seeds with cone-scale. 9, 10. Cross-sections of leaves.
= Pinus sylvestris, L.=
SCOTCH PINE (sometimes incorrectly called the Scotch fir).
Indigenous in the northern parts of Scotland and in the Alps, and from Sweden and Norway, where it forms large forests eastward throughout northern Europe and Asia.
At Southington, Conn., many of these trees, probably originating from an introduced pine in the vicinity, were formerly scattered over a rocky pasture and in the adjoining woods, a tract of about two acres in extent. Most of these were cut down in 1898, but the survivors, if left to themselves, will doubtless multiply rapidly, as the conditions have proved very favorable (C. H. Bissell in lit., 1899).
Like P. resinosa and P. Banksiana, it has its foliage leaves in twos, with neither of which, however, is it likely to be confounded; aside from the habit, which is quite different, it may be distinguished from the former by the shortness of its leaves, which are less than 2 inches long, while those of P. resinosa are 5 or 6; and from the latter by the position of its cones, which point outward and downward at maturity, while those of P. Banksiana follow the direction of the twig.
Picea nigra, Link.
Picea Mariana, B. S. P. (including Picea brevifolia, Peck).
BLACK SPRUCE. SWAMP SPRUCE. DOUBLE SPRUCE. WATER SPRUCE.
Habitat and Range.—Swamps, sphagnum bogs, shores of rivers and ponds, wet, rocky hillsides; not uncommon, especially northward, on dry uplands and mountain slopes.
Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, westward beyond the Rocky mountains, extending northward along the tributaries of the Yukon in Alaska.
Maine,—common throughout, covering extensive areas almost to the exclusion of other trees in the central and northern sections, occasional on the top of Katahdin (5215 feet); New Hampshire and Vermont,—common in sphagnum swamps of low and high altitudes; the dwarf form, var. semi-prostrata, occurs on the summit of Mt. Mansfield (Flora of Vermont, 1900); Massachusetts,—frequent; Rhode Island,—not reported; Connecticut,—rare; on north shore of Spectacle ponds in Kent (Litchfield county), at an elevation of 1200 feet; Newton (Fairfield county), a few scattered trees in a swamp at an altitude of 400 feet: (New Haven county) a few small trees at Bethany; at Middlebury abundant in a swamp of five acres (E. B. Harger, Rhodora, II, 126).
South along the mountains to North Carolina and Tennessee; west through the northern tier of states to Minnesota.
Habit.—In New England, usually a small, slender tree, 10-30 feet high and 5-8 inches in diameter; attaining northward and westward much greater dimensions; reduced at high elevation to a shrub or dwarf tree, 2 or 3 feet high; trunk tapering very slowly, forming a narrow-based, conical, more or less irregular head; branches rather short, scarcely whorled, horizontal or more frequently declining with an upward tendency at the ends, often growing in open swamps almost to the ground, the lowest prostrate, sometimes rooting at their tips and sending up shoots; spray stiff and rather slender; foliage dark bluish-green or glaucous. This tree often begins to blossom after attaining a height of 2-5 feet, the terminal cones each season remaining persistent at the base of the branches, sometimes for many years.
Bark.—Bark of trunk grayish-brown, separating into rather close, thin scales; branchlets roughened with the footstalks of the fallen leaves; twigs in autumn dull reddish-brown with a minute, erect, pale, rusty pubescence, or nearly smooth.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds scaly, ovate, pointed, reddish-brown. Leaves scattered, needle-shaped, dark bluish-green, the upper sides becoming yellowish in the sunlight, the faces marked by parallel rows of minute bluish dots which sometimes give a glaucous effect to the lower surface or even the whole leaf on the new shoots, 4-angled, 1/4-3/4 of an inch long, straight or slightly incurved, blunt at the apex, abruptly tipped or mucronate, sessile on persistent, decurrent footstalks.
Inflorescence.—April to May, a week or two earlier than the red spruce; sterile flowers terminal or axillary, on wood of the preceding year; about 3/8 inch long, ovate; anthers madder-red: fertile flowers at or near end of season's shoots, erect; scales madder-red, spirally imbricated, broader than long, margin erose, rarely entire.
Fruit.—Cones, single or clustered at or near ends of the season's shoots, attached to the upper side of the twig, but turning downward by the twisting of the stout stalk, often persistent for years; 1/2-1-1/2 inches long; purplish or grayish brown at the end of the first season, finally becoming dull reddish or grayish brown, ovate, ovate-oval, or nearly globular when open; scales rigid, thin, reddish on the inner surface; margin rounded, uneven, eroded, bifid, or rarely entire.
Horticultural Value.—Best adapted to cool, moist soils; of little value under cultivation; young plants seldom preserving the broad-based, cone-like, symmetrical heads common in the spruce swamps, the lower branches dying out and the whole tree becoming scraggly and unsightly. Seldom offered by nurserymen.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Stamen, front view. 3. Stamen, side view. 4. Stamen, top view. 5. Branch with fertile flowers. 6. Cover-scale and ovuliferous scale, outer side. 7. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 8. Fruiting branch. 9. Seed. 10. Leaf. 11. Cross-sections of leaves.
Picea rubra, Link.
Picea rubens, Sarg. Picea nigra, var. rubra, Engelm.
RED SPRUCE.
Habitat and Range.—Cool, rich woods, well-drained valleys, slopes of mountains, not infrequently extending down to the borders of swamps.
Prince Edward island and Nova Scotia, along the valley of the St. Lawrence.
Maine,—throughout: most common towards the coast and in the extreme north, thus forming a belt around the central area, where it is often quite wanting except on cool or elevated slopes; New Hampshire,—throughout; the most abundant conifer of upper Coos, the White mountain region where it climbs to the alpine area, and the higher parts of the Connecticut-Merrimac watershed; Vermont,—throughout; the common spruce of the Green mountains, often in dense groves on rocky slopes with thin soil; Massachusetts,—common in the mountainous regions of Berkshire county and on uplands in the northern sections, occasional southward; Rhode Island and Connecticut,—not reported.
South along the Alleghanies to Georgia, ascending to an altitude of 4500 feet in the Adirondacks, and 4000-5000 feet in West Virginia; west through the northern tier of states to Minnesota.
Habit.—A hardy tree, 40-75 feet high; trunk 1-2-1/2 feet in diameter, straight, tapering very slowly; branches longer than those of the black spruce, irregularly whorled or scattered, the lower often declined, sometimes resting on the ground, the upper rising toward the light, forming while the tree is young a rather regular, narrow, conical head, which in old age and in bleak mountain regions becomes, by the loss of branches, less symmetrical but more picturesque; foliage dark yellowish-green.
Bark.—Bark of trunk smoothish and mottled on young trees, at length separating into small, thin, flat, reddish scales; in old trees striate with shallow sinuses, separating into ashen-white plates, often partially detached; spray reddish or yellowish white in autumn with minute, erect, pale rusty pubescence.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds scaly, conical, brownish, 1/3 inch long. Leaves solitary, at first closely appressed around the young shoots, ultimately pointing outward, those on the underside often twisting upward, giving a brush-like appearance to the twig, 1/2-3/4 inch long, straight or curved (curvature more marked than in P. nigra), needle-shaped, dark yellowish-green, 4-angled; apex blunt or more or less pointed, often mucronate; base blunt; sessile on persistent leaf-cushions.
Inflorescence.—May. Sterile flowers terminal or axillary on wood of the preceding year, 1/2-3/4 inch long, cylindrical; anthers pinkish-red: fertile flowers lateral along previous season's shoots, erect; scales madder-purple, spirally imbricated, broader than long, margin entire or slightly erose.
Fruit.—Cones; single or clustered, lateral along the previous season's shoots, recurved, mostly pointing downward at various angles, on short stalks, falling the first autumn but sometimes persistent a year longer, 1-2 inches long (usually larger than those of P. nigra), reddish-brown, mostly ovate; scales thin, stiff, rounded; margin entire or slightly irregular.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; adapts itself to a great variety of soils and lives to a great age. Its narrow-based conical form, dense foliage, and yellow green coloring form an effective contrast with most other evergreens. It grows, however, slowly, is subject to the loss of its lower branches and to disfigurement by insects. Seldom offered in nurseries.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Stamen, front view. 3. Stamen, side view. 4. Branch with fertile flowers. 5. Cover-scale and ovuliferous scale, outer side. 6. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 7. Fruiting branch with cones of two seasons. 8. Seed. 9. Leaf. 10. Cross-sections of leaves.
Picea alba, Link.
Picea Canadensis, B. S. P.
WHITE SPRUCE. CAT SPRUCE.[1] SKUNK SPRUCE.[2] LABRADOR SPRUCE.
Habitat and Range.—Low, damp, but not wet woods; dry, sandy soils, high rocky slopes and exposed hilltops, often in scanty soil.
[Footnote 1, 2: So called from the peculiarly unpleasant odor of the crushed foliage and young shoots,—a characteristic which readily distinguishes it from the P. nigra and P. rubra.]
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, through the provinces of Quebec and Ontario to Manitoba and British Columbia, northward beyond all other trees, within 20 miles of the Arctic sea.
Maine,—frequent in sandy soils, often more common than P. rubra, as far south as the shores of Casco bay; New Hampshire,—abundant around the shores of the Connecticut river, disappearing southward at Fifteen-Mile falls; Vermont,—restricted mainly to the northern sections, more common in the northeast; Massachusetts,—occasional in the mountainous regions of Berkshire county; a few trees in Hancock (A. K. Harrington); as far south as Amherst (J. E. Humphrey) and Northampton (Mrs. Emily H. Terry), probably about the southern limit of the species; Rhode Island and Connecticut,—not reported.
West through the northern sections of the northern tier of states to the Rocky mountains.
Habit.—A handsome tree, 40-75 feet high, with a diameter of 1-2 feet at the ground, the trunk tapering slowly, throwing out numerous scattered or irregularly whorled, gently ascending or nearly horizontal branches, forming a symmetrical, rather broad conical head, with numerous branchlets and bluish-green glaucous foliage spread in dense planes; gum bitter.
Bark.—Bark of trunk pale reddish-brown or light gray, on very old trees ash-white; not as flaky as the bark of the red spruce, the scales smaller and more closely appressed; young trees and small branches much smoother, pale reddish-brown or mottled brown and gray, resembling the fir balsam; branchlets glabrous; shoots from which the leaves have fallen marked by the scaly, persistent leaf-cushions; new shoots pale fawn-color at first, turning darker the second season; bark of the tree throughout decidedly lighter than that of the red or black spruces.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds scaly, ovoid or conical, about 1/4 inch long, light brown. Leaves scattered, stout as those of P. rubra or very slender, those on the lower side straight or twisted so as to appear on the upper side, giving a brush-like appearance to the twig, about 3/4 of an inch long; bluish-green, glaucous on the new shoots, needle-shaped, 4-angled, slightly curved, bluntish or sharp-pointed, often mucronate, marked on each side with several parallel rows of dots, malodorous, especially when bruised.
Inflorescence.—April to May. Sterile flowers terminal or axillary, on wood of the preceding season; distinctly stalked; cylindrical, 1/2 an inch long; anthers pale red: fertile flowers at or near ends of season's shoots; scales pale red or green, spirally imbricated, broader than long; margin roundish, entire or nearly so; each scale bearing two ovules.
Fruit.—Cones short-stalked, at or near ends of branchlets, light green while growing, pale brownish when mature, spreading, 1-2-1/2 inches long, when closed cylindrical, tapering towards the apex, cylindrical or ovate-cylindrical when open, mostly falling the first winter; scales broad, thin, smooth; margin rounded, sometimes straight-topped, usually entire.
Horticultural Value.—A beautiful tree, requiring cold winters for its finest development, the best of our New England spruces for ornamental and forest plantations in the northern sections; grows rapidly in moist or well-drained soils, in open sun or shade, and in exposed situations. The foliage is sometimes infested by the red spider. Propagated from seed.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Stamen, front view. 3. Stamen, side view. 4. Branch with fertile flowers. 5. Cover-scale and ovuliferous scale, outer side. 6. Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 7. Fruiting branch. 8. Open cone. 9. Seed with ovuliferous scale. 10. Leaves. 11. Cross-sections of leaves.
Tsuga Canadensis, Carr.
HEMLOCK.
Habitat and Range.—Cold soils, borders of swamps, deep woods, ravines, mountain slopes.
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, through Quebec and Ontario.
Maine,—abundant, generally distributed in the southern and central portions, becoming rare northward, disappearing entirely in most of Aroostook county and the northern Penobscot region; New Hampshire,—abundant, from the sea to a height of 2000 feet in the White mountains, disappearing in upper Coos county; Vermont,—common, especially in the mountain forests; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,—common.
South to Delaware and along the mountains to Georgia and Alabama, ascending to an altitude of 2000 feet in the Adirondacks; west to Michigan and Minnesota.
Habit.—A large handsome tree, 50-80 feet high; trunk 2-4 feet in diameter, straight, tapering very slowly; branches going out at right angles, not disposed in whorls, slender, brittle yet elastic, the lowest declined or drooping; head spreading, somewhat irregular, widest at the base; spray airy, graceful, plume-like, set in horizontal planes; foliage dense, extremely delicate, dark lustrous green above and silver green below, tipped in spring with light yellow green.
Bark.—Bark of trunk reddish-brown, interior often cinnamon red, shallow-furrowed in old trees; young trunks and branches of large trees gray brown, smooth; season's shoots very slender, buff or light reddish-brown, minutely pubescent.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Winter buds minute, red brown. Leaves spirally arranged but brought by the twisting of the leafstalk into two horizontal rows on opposite sides of the twig, about 1/2 an inch long, yellow green when young, becoming at maturity dark shining green on the upper surface, white-banded along the midrib beneath, flat, linear, smooth, occasionally minutely toothed, especially in the upper half; apex obtuse; base obtuse; leafstalk slender, short but distinct, resting on a slightly projecting leaf-cushion.
Inflorescence.—Sterile flowers from the axils of the preceding year's leaves, consisting of globose clusters of stamens with spurred anthers: fertile catkins at ends of preceding year's branchlets, scales crimson.
Fruit.—Cones, on stout footstalks at ends of branchlets, pointing downward, ripening the first year, light brown, about 3/4 of an inch long, ovate-elliptical, pointed; scales rounded at the edge, entire or obscurely toothed.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; grows almost anywhere, but prefers a good, light, loamy or gravelly soil on moist slopes; a very effective tree single or in groups, useful in shady places, and a favorite hedge plant; not affected by rust or insect enemies; in open ground retains its lower branches for many years. About twenty horticultural forms, with variations in foliage, of columnar, densely globular, or weeping habit, are offered for sale in nurseries.
1. Branch with flower-buds. 2. Branch with sterile flowers. 3. Sterile flowers. 4. Spurred anther. 5. Branch with fertile flowers. 6. Ovuliferous scale with ovule, inner side. 7. Fruiting branch. 8. Cover-scales with seeds. 9. Leaf. 10. Cross-section of leaf.
Abies balsamea, Mill.
FIR BALSAM. BALSAM. FIR.
Habitat and Range.—Rich, damp, cool woods, deep swamps, mountain slopes.
Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, northwest to the Great Bear Lake region.
Maine,—very generally distributed, ordinarily associated with white pine, black spruce, red spruce, and a few deciduous trees, growing at an altitude of 4500 feet upon Katahdin; New Hampshire,—common in upper Coos county and in the White mountains, where it climbs up to the alpine area; in the southern part of the state, in the extensive swamps around the sources of the Contoocook and Miller's rivers, it is the prevailing timber; Vermont,—common; not rare on mountain slopes and even summits; Massachusetts,—not uncommon on mountain slopes in the northwestern and central portions of the state, ranging above the red spruces upon Graylock; a few trees here and there in damp woods or cold swamps in the southern and eastern sections, where it has probably been accidentally introduced; Rhode Island and Connecticut,—not reported.
South to Pennsylvania and along high mountains to Virginia; west to Minnesota.
Habit.—A slender, handsome tree, the most symmetrical of the New England spruces, with a height of 25-60 feet, and a diameter of 1-2 feet at the ground, reduced to a shrub at high altitudes; branches in young trees usually in whorls; branchlets mostly opposite. The branches go out from the trunk at an angle varying to a marked degree even in trees of about the same size and apparent age; in some trees declined near the base, horizontal midway, ascending near the top; in others horizontal or ascending throughout; in others declining throughout like those of the Norway spruce; all these forms growing apparently under precisely the same conditions; head widest at the base and tapering regularly upward; foliage dark bright green; cones erect and conspicuous.
Bark.—Bark of trunk in old trees a variegated ashen gray, appearing smooth at a short distance, but often beset with fine scales, with one edge scarcely revolute, giving a ripply aspect; branches and young trees mottled or striate, greenish-brown and very smooth; branchlets from which the leaves have fallen marked with nearly circular leaf-scars; season's shoots pubescent; bark of trunk in all trees except the oldest with numerous blisters, containing the Canada balsam of commerce.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds small, roundish, resinous, grouped on the leading shoots. Leaves scattered, spirally arranged in rows, at right angles to twig, or disposed in two ranks like the hemlock; 1/2-1 inch long, dark glossy green on the upper surface, beneath silvery bluish-white, and traversed lengthwise by rows of minute dots, flat, narrowly linear; apex blunt, in young trees and upon vigorous shoots, often slightly but distinctly notched, or sometimes upon upper branches with a sharp, rigid point; sessile; aromatic.
Inflorescence.—Early spring. Lateral or terminal on shoots of the preceding season; sterile flowers oblong-cylindrical, 1/4 inch in length; anthers yellow, red-tinged: fertile flowers on the upper side of the twig, erect, cylindrical; cover-scales broad, much larger than the purple ovuliferous scales, terminating in a long, recurved tip.
Fruit.—Cones along the upper side of the branchlets, erect or nearly so in all stages of growth, purplish when young, 3-5 inches long, 1 inch or more wide; puberulous; cover-scales at maturity much smaller than ovuliferous scales, thin, obovate, serrulate, bristle-pointed; ovuliferous scales thin, broad, rounded; edge minutely erose, serrulate or entire; both kinds of scales falling from the axis at maturity; seeds winged, purplish.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England, but best adapted to the northern sections; grows rapidly in open or shaded situations, especially where there is cool, moist, rich soil; easily transplanted; suitable for immediate effects in forest plantations, but not desirable for a permanent ornamental tree, as it loses the lower branches at an early period. Nurserymen and collectors offer it in quantity at a low price. Propagated from seed.
1. Branch with flower-buds. 2. Branch with sterile flowers. 3. Branch with fertile flowers. 4. Cover-scale and ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side. 5. Fruiting branch. 6. Ovuliferous scales with ovules at maturity, inner side. 7. Cone-scale and ovuliferous scale at maturity, outer side. 8-9. Leaves. 10-11. Cross-sections of leaves.
Thuja occidentalis, L.
ARBOR-VITAE. WHITE CEDAR. CEDAR.
Habitat and Range.—Low, swampy lands, rocky borders of rivers and ponds.
Southern Labrador to Nova Scotia; west to Manitoba.
Maine,—throughout the state; most abundant in the central and northern portions, forming extensive areas known as "cedar swamps"; sometimes bordering a growth of black spruce at a lower level; New Hampshire,—mostly confined to the upper part of Coos county, disappearing at the White river narrows near Hanover; seen only in isolated localities south of the White mountains; Vermont,—common in swamps at levels below 1000 feet; Massachusetts,—Berkshire county; occasional in the northern sections of the Connecticut river valley; Rhode Island,—not reported; Connecticut,—East Hartford (J. N. Bishop).
South along the mountains to North Carolina and East Tennessee; west to Minnesota.
Habit.—Ordinarily 25-50 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-2 feet, in northern Maine occasionally 60-70 feet in height, with a diameter of 3-5 feet; trunk stout, more or less buttressed in old trees, tapering rapidly, often divided, inclined or twisted, ramifying for the most part near the ground, forming a dense head, rather small for the size of the trunk; branches irregularly disposed and nearly horizontal, the lower often much declined; branchlets many, the flat spray disposed in fan-shaped planes at different angles; foliage bright, often interspersed here and there with yellow, faded leaves.
Bark.—Bark of trunk in old trees a dead ash-gray, striate with broad and flat ridges, often conspicuously spirally twisted, shreddy at the edge; young stems and large branches reddish-brown, more or less striate and shreddy; branchlets ultimately smooth, shining, reddish-brown, marked by raised scars; season's twigs invested with leaves.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leaf-buds naked, minute. Leaves in opposite pairs, 4-ranked, closely adherent to the branchlet and completely covering it, keeled in the side pairs and flat in the others, scale-like, ovate (in seedlings needle-shaped), obtuse or pointed at the apex, glandular upon the back, exhaling when bruised a strong aromatic odor.
Inflorescence.—April to May. Flowers terminal, dark reddish-brown; sterile and fertile, usually on the same plant, rarely on separate plants; anthers opposite; filaments short; ovuliferous scales opposite, with slight projections near the base, usually 2-ovuled.
Fruit.—Cones, terminal on short branchlets, spreading or recurved, about 1/2 inch long, reddish-brown, loose-scaled, opening to the base at maturity; persistent through the first winter; scales 6-12, dry, oblong, not shield-shaped, not pointed; margin entire or nearly so; seeds winged all round.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England; adapts itself to all soils and exposures, but prefers moist locations; grows slowly. Young trees have a narrowly conical outline, which spreads out at the base with age; retains its lower branches in open places, and is especially useful for hedges or narrow evergreen screens; little affected by insects; often disfigured, however, by dead branches and discolored leaves; is transplanted readily, and can be obtained in any quantity from nurserymen and collectors. The horticultural forms in cultivation range from thick, low, spreading tufts, through very dwarf, round, oval or conical forms, to tall, narrow, pyramidal varieties. Some have all the foliage tinged bright yellow, cream, or white; others have variegated foliage; another form has drooping branches. The bright summer foliage turns to a brownish color in winter. It is propagated from the seed and its horticultural forms from cuttings and layers.
1. Flowering branch with the preceding year's fruit. 2. Branch. 3. Sterile flower. 4. Stamen. 5. Fertile flower. 6. Scale with ovules.
Cupressus thyoides, L.
Chamaecyparis sphaeroidea, Spach. Chamaecyparis thyoides, B. S. P.
WHITE CEDAR. CEDAR.
Habitat and Range.—In deep swamps and marshes, which it often fills to the exclusion of other trees, mostly near the seacoast.
Cape Breton island and near Halifax, Nova Scotia, perhaps introduced in both.
Maine,—reported from the southern part of York county; New Hampshire,—limited to Rockingham county near the coast; Vermont,—no station known; Massachusetts,—occasional in central and eastern sections, very common in the southeast; Rhode Island,—common; Connecticut,—occasional in peat swamps.
Southward, coast region to Florida and west to Mississippi.
Habit.—20-50 feet high and 1-2 feet in diameter at the ground, reaching in the southern states an altitude of 90 and a diameter of 4 feet; trunk straight, tapering slowly, throwing out nearly horizontal, slender branches, forming a narrow, conical head often of great elegance and lightness; foliage light brownish-green; strong-scented; spray flat in planes disposed at different angles; wood permanently aromatic.
Bark.—Bark of trunk thick, reddish, fibrous, shreddy, separating into thin scales, becoming more or less furrowed in old trees; branches reddish-brown; fine scaled; branches after fall of leaves, in the third or fourth year, smooth, purplish-brown; season's shoots at first greenish.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leaf-buds naked, minute. Leaves mostly opposite, 4-ranked, adherent to the branchlet and completely covering it; keeled in the side pairs and slightly convex in the others, dull green, pointed at apex or triangular awl-shaped, mostly with a minute roundish gland upon the back.
Inflorescence.—April. Flowers terminal, sterile and fertile, usually on the same plant, rarely on separate plants, fertile on short branchlets: sterile, globular or oblong, anthers opposite, filaments shield-shaped: fertile, oblong or globular; ovuliferous scales opposite, slightly spreading at top, dark reddish-brown.
Fruit.—Cones, variously placed, 1/2 inch in diameter, roundish, purplish-brown, opening towards the center, never to the base; scales shield-shaped, woody; seeds several under each scale, winged.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England, growing best in the southern sections. Young trees are graceful and attractive, but soon become thin and lose their lower branches; valued chiefly in landscape planting for covering low and boggy places where other trees do not succeed as well. Seldom for sale in nurseries, but easily procured from collectors. Several unimportant horticultural forms are grown.
1. Branch with flowers. 2. Sterile flower. 3. Stamen, back view. 4. Stamen, front view. 5. Fertile flower. 6. Ovuliferous scale with ovules. 7. Fruiting-branch. 8. Fruit. 9. Branch.
Juniperus Virginiana, L.
RED CEDAR. CEDAR. SAVIN.
Habitat and Range.—Dry, rocky hills but not at great altitudes, borders of lakes and streams, sterile plains, peaty swamps.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Ontario.
Maine,—rare, though it extends northward to the middle Kennebec valley, reduced almost to a shrub; New Hampshire,—most frequent in the southeast part of the state; sparingly in the Connecticut valley as far north as Haverhill (Grafton county); found also in Hart's location in the White mountain region; Vermont,—not abundant; occurs here and there on hills at levels less than 1000 feet; frequent in the Champlain and lower Connecticut valleys; Massachusetts,—west and center occasional, eastward common; Rhode Island and Connecticut,—common.
South to Florida; west to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory.
Habit.—A medium-sized tree, 25-40 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 8-20 inches, attaining much greater dimensions southward; extremely variable in outline; the lower branches usually nearly horizontal, the upper ascending; head when young very regular, narrow-based, close and conical; in old trees frequently rather open, wide-spreading, ragged, roundish or flattened. In very exposed situations, especially along the seacoast, the trunk sometimes rises a foot or two and then develops horizontally, forming a curiously contorted lateral head. Under such conditions it occasionally becomes a dwarf tree 2-3 feet high, with wide-spreading branches and a very dense dome; spray close, foliage a sombre green, sometimes tinged with a rusty brownish-red; wood pale red, aromatic.
Bark.—Bark of trunk light reddish-brown, fibrous, shredding off, now and then, in long strips, exposing the smooth brown inner bark; season's shoots green.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leaf-buds naked, minute. Leaves dull green or brownish-red, of two kinds:
1. Scale-like, mostly opposite, each pair overlapping the pair above, 4-ranked, ovate, acute, sometimes bristle-tipped, more or less convex, obscurely glandular.
2. Scattered, not overlapping, narrowly lanceolate or needle-shaped, sharp-pointed, spreading. The second form is more common in young trees, sometimes comprising all the foliage, but is often found on trees of all ages, sometimes aggregated in dense masses.
Inflorescence.—Early May. Flowers terminating short branches, sterile and fertile, more commonly on separate trees, often on the same tree; anthers in opposite pairs; ovuliferous scales in opposite pairs, slightly spreading, acute or obtuse; ovules 1-4.
Fruit.—Berry-like from the coalescence of the fleshy cone-scales, the extremities of which are often visible, roundish, the size of a small pea, dark blue beneath a whitish bloom, 1-4-seeded.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; prefers sunny slopes and a loamy soil, but grows well in poor, thin soils and upon wind-swept sites; young plants increase in height 1-2 feet yearly and have a very formal, symmetrical outline; old trees often become irregular and picturesque, and grow very slowly; a long-lived tree; usually obtainable in nurseries and from collectors, but must frequently be transplanted to be moved with safety. If a ball of earth can be retained about the roots of wild plants, they can often be moved successfully. There are horticultural forms distinguished by a slender weeping or distorted habit, and by variegated bluish or yellowish foliage, occasionally found in American nurseries. The type is usually propagated from the seed, the horticultural forms from cuttings or by grafting.
1. Branch with sterile and fertile flowers. 2. Sterile flower. 3. Stamen with pollen-sacs. 4. Fertile flower. 5. Fruiting branch. 6. Branch. 7. Branch with needle-shaped leaves.
SALICACEAE. WILLOW FAMILY.
Trees or shrubs; leaves simple, alternate, undivided, with stipules either minute and soon falling or leafy and persistent; inflorescence from axillary buds of the preceding season, appearing with or before the leaves, in nearly erect, spreading or drooping catkins, sterile and fertile on separate trees; flowers one to each bract, without calyx or corolla; stamens one to many; style short or none; stigmas 2, entire or 2-4-lobed; fruit a 2-4-celled capsule.
POPULUS.
Inflorescence usually appearing before the leaves; flowers with lacerate bracts, disk cup-shaped and oblique-edged, at least in sterile flowers; stamens usually many, filaments distinct; stigmas mostly divided, elongated or spreading.
SALIX.
Inflorescence appearing with or before the leaves; flowers with entire bracts and one or two small glands; disks wanting; stamens few.
Populus tremuloides, Michx.
POPLAR. ASPEN.
Habitat and Range.—In all soils and situations except in deep swamps, though more usual in dry uplands; sometimes springing up in great abundance in clearings or upon burnt lands.
Newfoundland, Labrador, and Nova Scotia to the Hudson bay region and Alaska.
New England,—common, reaching in the White mountain region an altitude of 3000 feet.
South to New Jersey, along the mountains in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, ascending 3000 feet in the Adirondacks; west to the slopes of the Rocky mountains, along which it extends to Mexico and Lower California.
Habit.—A graceful tree, ordinarily 35-40 feet and not uncommonly 50-60 feet high; trunk 8-15 inches in diameter, tapering, surmounted by a very open, irregular head of small, spreading branches; spray sparse, consisting of short, stout, leafy rounded shoots set at a wide angle; distinguished by the slenderness of its habit, the light color of trunk and branches, the deep red of the sterile catkins in early spring, and the almost ceaseless flutter of the delicate foliage.
Bark.—Trunk pale green, smooth, dark-blotched below the branches, becoming ash-gray and roughish in old trees; season's shoots dark reddish-brown or green, shining; bitter.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds 1/8-1/4 inch long, reddish-brown and lustrous, usually smooth, ovate, acute, often slightly incurved at apex, the upper often appressed. Leaves 1-2-1/2 inches long, breadth usually equal to or exceeding the length, yellowish-green and ciliate when young, dark dull green above when mature, lighter beneath, glabrous on both sides, bright yellow in autumn; outline broadly ovate to orbicular, finely serrate or wavy-edged, with incurved, glandular-tipped teeth, apex rather abruptly acute or short-acuminate; base acute, truncate or slightly heart-shaped, 3-nerved; leafstalk slender, strongly flattened at right angles to the plane of the blade, bending to the slightest breath of air; stipules lanceolate, silky, soon falling.
Inflorescence.—April to May. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, fertile at first about the same length, gradually elongating; bracts cut into several lanceolate or linear divisions, silky-hairy; stamens about 10; anthers red: ovary short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red.
Fruit.—June. Capsules, in elongated catkins, conical; seeds numerous, white-hairy.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England in the most exposed situations; grows almost anywhere, but prefers a moist, rich loam; grows rapidly; foliage and spray thin; generally short-lived; often used as a screen for slow-growing trees; type seldom found in nurseries, but one or two horticultural forms are occasionally offered. Propagated from seed or cuttings.
1. Branch with sterile catkins. 2. Sterile flower. 3. Branch with fertile catkins. 4. Fertile flower. 5. Fruiting branch. 6. Branch with mature leaves. 7. Variant leaves.
Populus grandidentata, Michx.
POPLAR. LARGE-TOOTHED ASPEN.
Habitat and Range.—In rich or poor soils; woods, hillsides, borders of streams.
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, southern Quebec, and Ontario.
New England,—common, occasional at altitudes of 2000 feet or more.
South to Pennsylvania and Delaware, along the mountains to Kentucky, North Carolina, and Tennessee; west to Minnesota.
Habit.—A tree 30-45 feet in height and 1 foot to 20 inches in diameter at the ground, sometimes attaining much greater dimensions; trunk erect, with an open, unsymmetrical, straggling head; branches distant, small and crooked; branchlets round; spray sparse, consisting of short, stout, leafy shoots; in time and manner of blossoming, constant motion of foliage, and general habit, closely resembling P. tremuloides.
Bark.—Bark of trunk on old trees dark grayish-brown or blackish, irregularly furrowed, broad-ridged, the outer portions separated into small, thickish scales; trunk of young trees soft greenish-gray; branches greenish-gray, darker on the underside; branchlets dark greenish-gray, roughened with leaf-scars; season's twigs in fall dark reddish-brown, at first tomentose, becoming smooth and shining.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds 1/8 inch long, mostly divergent, light chestnut, more or less pubescent, dusty-looking, ovate, acute. Leaves 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, densely white-tomentose when opening, usually smooth on both sides when mature, dark green above, lighter beneath, bright yellow in autumn; outline roundish-ovate, coarsely and irregularly sinuate-toothed; teeth acutish; sinuses in shallow curves; apex acute; base truncate or slightly heart-shaped; leafstalks long, strongly flattened at right angles to the plane of the blade; stipules thread-like, soon falling.
Inflorescence.—March to April. Sterile catkins 1-3 inches long, fertile at first about the same length, but gradually elongating; bracts cut into several lanceolate divisions, silky-hairy; stamens about 10; anthers red: ovaries short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, red.
Fruit.—Fruiting catkins at length 3-6 inches long; capsule conical, acute, roughish-scurfy, hairy at tip: seeds numerous, hairy.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; grows almost anywhere, but prefers moist, rich loam; grows rapidly and is safely transplanted, but is unsymmetrical, easily broken by the wind, and short-lived; seldom offered by nurserymen, but readily procured from northern collectors of native plants. Useful to grow for temporary effect with permanent trees, as it will fail by the time the desirable kinds are well established. Propagated from seed or cuttings.
Note.—Points of difference between P. tremuloides and P. grandidentata. These trees may be best distinguished in early spring by the color of the unfolding leaves. In the sunlight the head of P. tremuloides appears yellowish-green, while that of P. grandidentata is conspicuously cotton white. The leaves of P. grandidentata are larger and more coarsely toothed, and the main branches go off usually at a broader angle. The buds of P. grandidentata are mostly divergent, dusty-looking, dull; of P. tremuloides, mostly appressed, highly polished with a resinous lustre.
1. Branch with sterile catkins. 2. Sterile flower, back view, 3. Sterile flower, front view. 4. Branch with fertile catkins. 5. Bract of fertile flower. 6. Fertile flower, front view. 7. Fruiting branch with mature leaves. 8. Fruit. 9. Fruit.
Populus heterophylla, L.
POPLAR. SWAMP POPLAR. COTTONWOOD.
Habitat and Range.—In or along swamps occasionally or often overflowed; rare, local, and erratically distributed.
Connecticut,—frequent in the southern sections; Bozrah (J. N. Bishop); Guilford, in at least three wood-ponds (W. E. Dudley in lit.), New Haven, and near Norwich (W. A. Setchell).
Following the eastern coast in wide belts from New York (Staten island and Long island) south to Georgia; west along the Gulf coast to western Louisiana, and northward along the Mississippi and Ohio basins to Arkansas, Indiana, and Illinois.
Habit.—A slender, medium-sized tree, attaining a height of 30-50 feet, reaching farther south a maximum of 90 feet; trunk 9-18 inches in diameter, usually branching high up, forming a rather open hemispherical or narrow-oblong head; branches irregular, short, rising, except the lower, at a sharp angle; branchlets stout, roundish, varying in color, degree of pubescence, and glossiness, becoming rough after the first year with the raised leaf-scars; spray sparse.
Bark.—Bark of trunk dark ash-gray, very rough, and broken into loosely attached narrow plates in old trees; in young trees light ash-gray, smooth at first, becoming in a few years roughish, low-ridged.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds conical, acute, more or less resinous. Leaves 3-6 inches long, two-thirds as wide, densely white-tomentose when young, at length dark green on the upper side, lighter beneath and smooth except along the veins; outline ovate, wavy-toothed; base heart-shaped, lobes often overlapping; apex obtuse; leafstalk long, round, downy; stipules soon falling.
Inflorescence.—April to May. Sterile catkins when expanded 3-4 inches long, at length pendent; scales cut into irregular divisions, reddish; stamens numerous, anthers oblong, dark red: fertile catkins spreading, few and loosely flowered, gradually elongating; scales reddish-brown; ovary short-stalked; styles 2-3, united at the base; stigmas 2-3, conspicuous.
Fruit.—Fruiting catkins spreading or drooping, 4-5 inches long: capsules usually erect, ovoid, acute, shorter than or equaling the slender pedicels: seeds numerous, white-hairy.
Horticultural Value.—Not procurable in New England nurseries or from collectors; its usefulness in landscape gardening not definitely known.
1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile catkin. 3. Sterile flower. 4. Scale of sterile flower. 5. Branch with fertile catkin. 6. Fertile flower. 7. Fruiting branch with mature leaves.
Populus deltoides, Marsh.
Populus monilifera, Ait.
COTTONWOOD. POPLAR.
Habitat and Range.—In moist soil; river banks and basins, shores of lakes, not uncommon in drier locations.
Throughout Quebec and Ontario to the base of the Rocky mountains.
Maine,—not reported; New Hampshire,—restricted to the immediate vicinity of the Connecticut river, disappearing near the northern part of Westmoreland; Vermont,—western sections, abundant along the shores of the Hoosac river in Pownal and along Lake Champlain (W. W. Eggleston); in the Connecticut valley as far north as Brattleboro (Flora of Vermont, 1900); Massachusetts,—along the Connecticut and its tributaries; Rhode Island,—occasional; Connecticut,—occasional eastward, common along the Connecticut, Farmington, and Housatonic rivers.
South to Florida; west to the Rocky mountains.
Habit.—A stately tree, 75-100 feet in height; trunk 3-5 feet in diameter, light gray, straight or sometimes slightly inclined, of nearly uniform size to the point of branching, surmounted by a noble, broad-spreading, open, symmetrical head, the lower branches massive, horizontal, or slightly ascending, more or less pendulous at the extremities, the upper coarse and spreading, rising at a sharper angle; branchlets stout; foliage brilliant green, easily set in motion; the sterile trees gorgeous in spring with dark red pendent catkins.
Bark.—In old trees thick, ash-gray, separated into deep, straight furrows with rounded ridges; in young trees light yellowish-green, smooth; season's shoots greenish, marked with pale longitudinal lines.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds large, conical, smooth, shining. Leaves 3-6 inches long, scarcely less in width, variable in color and shape, ordinarily dark green and shining above, lighter beneath, ribs raised on both sides; outline broadly ovate, irregularly crenate-toothed; apex abruptly acute or acuminate; base truncate, slightly heart-shaped or sometimes acute; stems long, slender, somewhat flattened at right angles to the plane of the blade; stipules linear, soon falling.
Inflorescence.—April to May. In solitary, densely flowered catkins; bracts lacerate-fringed, each bract subtending a cup-shaped scale; stamens very numerous; anthers longer than the filaments, dark red: fertile catkins elongating to 5 or 6 inches; ovary ovoid; stigmas 3 or 4, nearly sessile, spreading.
Fruit.—Capsules ovate, rough, short-stalked; seeds densely cottony.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy in southern-central New England; grows rapidly in almost any soil and is readily obtainable in nurseries. Where an immediate effect is desired, the cottonwood serves the purpose excellently and frequently makes very fine large individual trees, but the wood is soft and likely to be broken by wind or ice. Usually propagated from cuttings.
1. Winter buds. 2. Branch with sterile catkins. 3. Sterile flower, back view. 4. Sterile flower, front view. 5. Scale of sterile flower. 6. Fertile flower. 7. Fruiting catkin. 8. Branch with mature leaves. 9. Variant leaf.
Populus balsamifera, L.
BALSAM. POPLAR. BALM OF GILEAD.
Habitat and Range.—Alluvial soils; river banks, valleys, borders of swamps, woods.
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia west to Manitoba; northward to the coast of Alaska and along the Mackenzie river to the Arctic circle.
Maine,—common; New Hampshire,—Connecticut river valley, generally near the river, becoming more plentiful northward; Vermont,—frequent; Massachusetts and Rhode Island,—not reported; Connecticut,—extending along the Housatonic river at New Milford for five or six miles, perhaps derived from an introduced tree (C. K. Averill, Rhodora, II, 35).
West through northern New York, Michigan, Minnesota, Dakota (Black Hills), Montana, beyond the Rockies to the Pacific coast.
Habit.—A medium-sized tree, 30-75 feet high, trunk 1-3 feet in diameter, straight; branches horizontal or nearly so, slender for size of tree, short; head open, narrow-oblong or oblong-conical; branchlets mostly terete; foliage thin.
Bark.—In old trees dark gray or ash-gray, firm-ridged, in young trees smooth; branchlets grayish; season's shoots reddish or greenish brown, sparsely orange-dotted.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds 3/4 inch long, appressed or slightly divergent, conical, slender, acute, resin-coated, sticky, fragrant when opening. Leaves 3-6 inches long, about one-half as wide, yellowish when young, when mature bright green, whitish below; outline ovate-lanceolate or ovate, finely toothed, gradually tapering to an acute or acuminate apex; base obtuse to rounded, sometimes truncate or heart-shaped; leafstalk much shorter than the blade, terete or nearly so; stipules soon falling. The leaves of var. intermedia are obovate to oval; those of var. latifolia closely approach the leaves of P. candicans.
Inflorescence.—April. Sterile 3-4 inches long, fertile at first about the same length, gradually elongating, loosely flowered; bracts irregularly and rather narrowly cut-toothed, each bract subtending a cup-shaped disk; stamens numerous; anthers red: ovary short-stalked; stigmas two, 2-lobed, large, wavy-margined.
Fruit.—Fruiting catkins drooping, 4-6 inches long: capsules ovoid, acute, longer than the pedicels, green: seeds numerous, hairy.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; grows in all excepting very wet soils, in full sun or light shade, and in exposed situations; of rapid growth, but subject to the attacks of borers, which kill the branches and make the head unsightly; also spreads from the roots, and therefore not desirable for ornamental plantations; most useful in the formation of shelter-belts; readily transplanted but not common in nurseries. Propagated from cuttings.
1. Branch with sterile flowers. 2. Sterile flower, back view. 3. Sterile flower, side view. 4. Scales of sterile flower. 5. Branch with fertile catkins. 6. Fertile flower. 7. Fruiting catkins, mature. 8. Branch with mature leaves.
Populus candicans, Ait.
Populus balsamifera, var. candicans, Gray.
BALM OF GILEAD.
Habitat and Range.—In a great variety of soils; usually in cultivated or pasture lands in the vicinity of dwellings; infrequently found in a wild state. The original site of this tree has not been definitely agreed upon. Professor L. H. Bailey reports that it is indigenous in Michigan, and northern collectors find both sexes in New Hampshire and Vermont; while in central and southern New England the staminate tree is rarely if ever seen, and the pistillate flowers seldom if ever mature perfect fruit. The evidence seems to indicate a narrow belt extending through northern New Hampshire, Vermont and Michigan, with the intermediate southern sections of the Province of Ontario as the home of the Balm of Gilead.
Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,—occasional; Ontario,—frequent.
New England,—occasional throughout.
South to New Jersey; west to Michigan and Minnesota.
Habit.—A medium-sized tree, 40-60 feet high; trunk 1-3 feet in diameter, straight or inclined, sometimes beset with a few crooked, bushy branchlets; head very variable in shape and size; solitary in open ground, commonly broad-based, spacious, and pyramidal, among other trees more often rather small; loosely and irregularly branched, with sparse, coarse, and often crooked spray; foliage dark green, handsome, and abundant; all parts characterized by a strong and peculiar resinous fragrance. A single tree multiplying by suckers often becomes parent of a grove covering half an acre, more or less, made up of trees of all ages and sizes.
Bark.—Bark of trunk and lower portions of large branches dark gray, rough, irregularly striate and firm in old trees; in young trees and upon smaller branches smooth, soft grayish-green, often flanged by prominent ridges running down the stalk from the vertices of the triangular leaf-scars; season's shoots often flanged, shining reddish or olive green, with occasional longitudinal gray lines, viscid.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds dark reddish-brown, rather closely set along the stalk, conical or somewhat angled, narrow, often falcate, sharp-pointed, resinous throughout, viscid, aromatic, exhaling a powerful odor when the scales expand, terminal about 3/4 inch long. Leaves 4-6 inches long and nearly as wide, yellowish-green at first, becoming dark green and smooth on the upper surface with the exception of a minute pubescence along the veins, dull light green beneath, finely serrate with incurved glandular points, usually ciliate with minute stiff, whitish hairs; base heart-shaped; apex short-pointed; petioles about 1-1-1/2 inches long, more or less hairy, somewhat flattened at right angles to the blade; stipules short, ovate, acute, soon falling.
Inflorescence.—Similar to that of P. balsamifera.
Fruit.—Similar to that of P. balsamifera.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; has an attractive foliage and grows rapidly in all soils and situations, but the branches are easily broken by the wind, and its habit of suckering makes it objectionable in ornamental ground; occasionally offered by nurserymen and collectors. Propagated from cuttings.
1. Winter bud. 2. Branch with fertile catkins. 3. Fertile flower. 4. Fruiting branch.
Populus alba, L.
ABELE. WHITE POPLAR. SILVER-LEAF POPLAR.
Range.—Widely distributed in the Old World, extending in Europe from southern Sweden to the Mediterranean, throughout northern Africa, and eastward in Asia to the northwestern Himalayas. Introduced from England by the early settlers and soon established in the colonial towns, as in Plymouth and Duxbury, on the western shore of Massachusetts bay. Planted or spontaneous over a wide area.
New Brunswick and Nova Scotia,—occasional.
New England,—occasional throughout, local, sometimes common.
Southward to Virginia.
Habit.—A handsome tree, resembling P. grandidentata more than any other American poplar, but of far nobler proportions; 40-75 feet high and 2-4 feet in diameter at the ground; growing much larger in England; head large, spreading; round-topped, in spring enveloped in a dazzling cloud of cotton white, which resolves itself later into two conspicuously contrasting surfaces of dark green and silvery white.
Bark.—Light gray, smooth upon young trees, in old trees furrowed upon the trunk.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds not viscid, cottony. Leaves 1-4 inches long, densely white-tomentose while expanding, when mature dark green above and white-tomentose to glabrous beneath; outline ovate or deltoid, 3-5-lobed and toothed or simply toothed, teeth irregular; base heart-shaped or truncate; apex acute to obtuse; leafstalk long, slender, compressed; stipules soon falling.
Inflorescence and Fruit.—April to May. Sterile catkins 2-4 inches long, cylindrical, fertile at first shorter,—stamens 6-16; anthers purple: capsules 1/4 inch long, narrow-ovoid; seeds hairy.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy. Thrives even in very poor soils and in exposed situations; grows rapidly in good soils; of distinctive value in landscape gardening but not adapted for planting along streets and upon lawns of limited area on account of its habit of throwing out numerous suckers and its liability to damage from heavy winds. The sides of country roads where the abele has been planted are sometimes obstructed for a considerable distance by the thrifty shoots from underground.
Salix discolor. Muhl.
PUSSY WILLOW. GLAUCOUS WILLOW.
Habitat and Range.—Low, wet grounds; banks of streams, swamps, moist hillsides.
Nova Scotia to Manitoba.
Maine,—abundant; common throughout the other New England states.
South to North Carolina; west to Illinois and Missouri.
Habit.—Mostly a tall shrub with several stems, but occasionally assuming a tree-like habit, with a height of 15-20 feet and trunk diameter of 5-10 inches; one tree reported at Laconia, N. H., 35 feet high (F. W. Batchelder); branches few, stout, ascending, forming a very open, hemispherical head.
Bark.—Trunk reddish-brown; branches dark-colored; branchlets light green, orange-dotted.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds ovate-conical; apex obtuse to acute. Leaves simple, alternate, 2-4 inches long, smooth and bright green above, smooth and whitish beneath when fully grown; outline ovate-lanceolate to narrowly oblong-oval, crenulate-serrate to entire; apex acute, base acute and entire; leafstalk short; stipules toothed or entire.
Inflorescence.—March to April. Appearing before the leaves in catkins, sterile and fertile on separate plants, occasionally both kinds on the same plant, sessile,—sterile spreading or erect, oblong-cylindrical, silky; calyx none; petals none; bracts entire, reddish-brown turning to black, oblong to oblong-obovate, with long, silky hairs; stamens 2; filaments distinct: fertile catkins spreading; bracts oblong to ovate, hairy; style short; stigma deeply 4-lobed.
Fruit.—Fruiting catkins somewhat declined: capsules ovate-conical, tomentose, stem two-thirds the length of the scale: seeds numerous.
Horticultural Value.—Picturesque in blossom and fruit; its value dependent chiefly upon its matted roots for holding wet banks, and its ability to withstand considerable shade. Sold by plant collectors; easily propagated from cuttings.
1. Leaf-buds. 2. Branch with sterile catkins. 3. Sterile flower. 4. Branch with fertile catkins. 5. Fertile flower. 6. Fruiting branch. 7. Mature leaves.
Salix nigra, Marsh.
BLACK WILLOW
Habitat and Range.—In low grounds, along streams or ponds, river flats.
New Brunswick to western Ontario.
New England,—occasional throughout, frequent along the larger streams.
South to Florida; west to Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Indian territory, Louisiana, Texas, southern California, and south into Mexico.
Habit.—A large shrub or small tree, 25-40 feet high and 10-15 inches in trunk diameter, attaining great size in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys and the valley of the lower Colorado; trunk short, surmounted by an irregular, open, often roundish head, with stout, spreading branches, slender branchlets, and twigs brittle towards their base.
S. nigra, var. falcata, Pursh., covers about the same range as the type and differs chiefly in its narrower, falcate leaves.
Bark.—Trunk rough, in young trees light brown, in old trees dark-colored or nearly black, deeply and irregularly ridged, separated on the surface into thick, plate-like scales; branchlets reddish-brown; twigs bronze olive.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds narrowly conical, acute. Leaves simple, alternate, appearing much later than those of S. discolor, 2-5 inches long, somewhat pubescent on both sides when young, when mature green and smooth above, paler and sometimes pubescent along the veins beneath; outline narrowly lanceolate, finely serrate; apex acute or acuminate, often curved; base acutish to rounded or slightly heart-shaped; petiole short, usually pubescent; stipules large and persistent, or small and soon falling. |
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