104 WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



and containing one or two bottle-shaped, covered ovaries or 

 germs.* About these germs the swelling scales coalesce, and 

 form a roundish or obscurely four-sided berry, which is green, 

 covered with a bluish powder, and marked with minute projec- 

 tions indicating the points of the once distinct scales. The seeds 

 are one or two, covered with a bony shell, in the shape of a 

 short cone, which is compressed on one side, when there are 

 two. The flowers open in April or May, and the fruit is ma- 

 ture in October or November, but continues on the tree through 

 the winter. 



Though usually having little beauty, it may be made a hand- 

 some low or middle-sized tree, by careful pruning when young. 

 If this is attempted too late, the tree is deformed by numerous 

 knots. When growing in a dry but rich soil, in a sheltered 

 situation, it is sometimes a fine tree. One such, eighteen inches 

 in diameter, is growing near the country house of the late 

 Thomas Rotch, Esq., near Philadelphia, which has a full, 

 round, ample head, and is nearly forty feet high. 



The wood is light, close-grained, smooth, and compact, and 

 possessed of great durability. The agreeable and permanent 

 odor recommends it for certain uses, as that of making pencils, 

 and the bottoms of small boxes and drawers, the aroma making 

 it a safeguard against insects. The sap-wood is white, but the 

 heart-wood of a beautiful red, whence is derived its name. It 

 is much used to make posts, which last many years. It is also 

 used in the manufacture of pails and tubs. 



The timber is highly valued by ship-builders, boat-builders, 

 and carpenters, and by cabinet-makers, and turners. Dr. Elliott 

 makes an observation in regard to the trees, as found growing in 

 the Southern States, which holds true in several parts of New 

 England. " Those which grow along the sea-coast, with their 

 roots partially immersed in salt-water, though smaller in their 

 dimensions, are much more durable than those which inhabit 

 the forests. Often when surrounded and finally destroyed by 

 the encroachments of the salt-water, their bodies remain in the 



* The necks of these bottle-shaped bodies, which are in fact only openings to 

 the naked ovary, have till recently been mistaken for pistils. 



