1G8 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



soil is light and the winter less rigorous than at a greater 

 distance from the ocean. 



This tree varies in size according to the situation in which it 

 grows ; on the banks of the Savannah and on the borders of the 

 large swamps, where the soil is deep, loose and fertile, it grows 

 from 25 to 30 feet in height and from seven to eight inches in 

 diameter at the height of five feet from the ground. Commonly 

 it does not exceed half these dimensions, and in the pine barrens, 

 where, it is profusely multiplied, it is sometimes only three or 

 four feet in height. The sprouts from the trunks consumed in 

 the annual conflagration of the forests never surpass this height, 

 and, as they do not fructify, the tree is multiplied by its running 

 roots, which shoot at the distance of a few feet. The trunk is 

 clad in a smooth bark, and, if wounded in the spring, it distils a 

 milky fluid of an unpleasant odor. The leaves are three or four 

 inches long, smooth, totally thick, alternate, of an elongated oval 

 shape, slightly denticulated, and of a sugary taste. In sheltered 

 situations they persist during two or three years, but in the pine- 

 barrens they turn yellow with the first frost and fall towards the 

 first of February. The flowers spring from the base of the 

 leaves, and appear early in the season : they are yellowish, 

 sweet-scented, and composed of a great number of stamens 

 shorter than the petals and united in separate groups at the base. 

 The fruit is cylindrical, minute and of a deep blue color at its 

 maturity. 



The wood of this tree is very soft and is totally useless. The 

 foliage is the only part which, is of any utility; when dry it 

 affords, by decoction, a beautiful yellow color, which is rendered 

 permanent by the addition of a little alum, and is used to dye 

 wool and cotton. But if these leaves had possessed any consid- 

 erable value they would doubtless have found their way into 

 commerce. 





