154 



Moh 



made it a special object of his research in his investigations of the 



forest growth of the Gulf region for the tenth census. INIr. Mohr 



found the tree growing scattered along one of the rocky ravines that 



traverse the terrace-like shelves of limestone on the southern declivity 



of the Cumberland Mountains, as they descend upon the valley of the 



Tennessee River, in Madison County, Ala. The specimens found 



here ranged from 25 to 35 ft. in height. The largest one felled 



measured 35 ft. in length and 12 in. in diameter one foot above the 

 ground. 



a 



M 



subject in the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences," the tree has evidently long passed the best period of its 

 life, judging from the decay by which, more or less, the trunk was 

 found affected. No sign of a decline, however, could be observed in 

 the vigor of its vegetation. 



"The trunk divides at a height of from 12 to 14 ft. above its base; 

 the pnmary limbs are erect, the secondary branches widely spreading, 

 often slightly reclining, smooth, and divide into numerous divaricate 

 reddish branchlets, rugose from the base of the leaf-stalks of the 

 previo'us season. The bark is rough, covered with a whitish gray 

 epidermis of a deep chestnut-brown underneath, and exfoliating in 

 oblong square scales of uniform size. The inner bark is white, ex- 

 posed to the air turning rapidly to a deep yellow color, and exudes, 

 vtrhen bruised, a resinous sap of a heavy, disagreeable terebinthinous 

 odor. The wood is heavy, very compact, of a fine grain- the white 

 sap wood of small proportion surrounds, as a narrow ring, the deep 

 yellow hard wood, variegated by zones of different shades of brown, 

 mipartmg to it a beautiful appearance when polished. * * * 



_ "The inuer bark and wood are used for dyeing yellow, and it is 

 said, also, for the production of purple tints. On this point, how- 

 ever, no definite information could be obtained. 



'Large numbers of trees were cut down during tae war to procure 

 a dyestuff much valued at the time, and full-grown ones are now 

 quite scarce near the settlements. On account of the beauty of its 

 wood, the tree is called shittim-wood by the negroes, they believing 

 It to be the same which was used in the construction of the taber- 

 nacle in Solomon's Temple. The wood permits of the finest finish; 

 the fineness of its grain, beauty of color and its hardness fit it well 

 for inlaid work, veneering, and the manufacture of smaller articles 

 of all kinds of fancy woodwork. 



"As an ornamental tree it far surpasses the European species, and 

 will be found quite as hardy." 



As observed in Alabama, the tree appears to be principally con- 

 fined to the southern declivity of the mountains, from the northern 

 border of the valley of the Tennessee, and strictly to the habitat 

 above mentioned. It was not found on the sandstone cliffs which, 

 but a short distance higher up, overlie the limestone strata, nor lower 

 down the mountain sides, where the soil was deep and rich 



As Its wood is used for fuel whenever accessible, the tree would 

 rapidly become extinct within these narrow limits, were it not for its 



