DENDROLOGY. 135 



The American nettle tree grows to the height of 60 or 70 

 feet with a diameter of 18 or 20 inches. Its branches are 

 numerous and slender, and the limbs take their rise at a small 

 distance from the ground, and seek a horizontal or an inclined 

 direction. The bark is rough and entire upon the trunk, and 

 smooth and even on the secondary branches. The leaves are 

 alternate, about three inches long, of a dark green color, oval- 

 oblique at the base, very acuminate at the summit, denticulated, 

 and somewhat rough. The flowers open in April or May, and 

 are small, white, single and axillary : the fruit, also, is small and 

 single, of a round form, and of a dull red color. 



When perfectly seasoned, the wood is of a dark brown color, 

 hard, compact, supple and tenacious : it makes excellent hoops, 

 whip stocks, is used by wheelwrights for shafts and for other 

 purposes, and is proper for sculpture. 



CERASUS. 



Icosandria Monogynia.. Linn. Rosacea?. Juss. Refrigerant, tonic, 



astringent. 



Red Cherry Tree. Cerasus borealis. 



The Red Cherry Tree is common only in the Northern States 

 and in Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It is rarelv 

 met with in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, and is wholly 

 unknown in the Southern States. In the state of Maine and 

 Vermont, it is called Small Cherry and Red Cherry, the last of 

 which we have adopted. It nourishes best in a common soil, hi 

 cleared grounds, and in such parts of the forests as have been 

 burnt. " 



The size of the red cherry tree places it among trees of the 

 third order : it rarely exceeds, and often does not equal, 25 or 

 30 feet in height and six or eight inches in diameter. The trunk 

 is covered with a smooth, brown bark, which detaches itself 

 laterally. Its leaves are five or six inches long, oval, denticulated 

 and very acuminate. Its flowers put forth in May or June, 

 and are collected in small, white bunches, and give birth to a red 



