206 SYLVA AMERICANA. 



constantly moist, and where the soil is deep and fertile. At the 

 distance of forty or fifty miles from the mountains, either way, 

 this tree is met with only accidentally upon the steep banks of 

 rivers, where the atmosphere is constantly refreshed by the 

 evaporation from their surface. We may conclude then that this 

 tree is a stranger to all parts north of the river Hudson, and to 

 all the Atlantic parts of the United States, to the distance of 100, 

 150 and 200 miles from the sea ; the nature of the soil, and the 

 extreme heat of the climate in summer being utterly uncongenial 

 to its growth. It is also rare in the parts of Kentucky and West 

 Tennessee which are most remote from the mountains, where 

 the face of the country is less uneaven. 



The cucumber tree sometimes exceeds 80 feet in height, 

 with a diameter of three or four feet. The trunk is perfectly 

 straight, of an uniform size and often destitute of branches for 

 two-thirds of its length. The summit is ample and regularly 

 shaped, and the tree is one of the finest in the American forests. 

 The leaves are six or seven inches long, and three or four inches 

 broad, upon old trees ; upon saplings growing in moist places, 

 they are, sometimes twice as large. Their form is oval, entire 

 and very acuminate ; they fall in the autumn and are renewed 

 in the spring. The flowers open in May and are five or six 

 inches in diameter, bluish and sometimes white with a tint of 

 yellow. They have a feeble odor, but as they are large and 

 numerous, they have a fine effect in the midst of the superb 

 foliage. The cones or fruit are about three inches long, and 

 eight or ten lines in diameter, of nearly a cylindrical shape, and 

 often a little larger at the summit than at the base. They are 

 convex on one side and concave on the other, and when green 

 they nearly resemble a young cucumber, whence the tree has 

 derived its name. The cells are arranged as in the other species 

 of the genus, and each of them contains one rose-colored seed, 

 which, before it escapes, remains suspended like those of the 

 great and small laurels. 



On old stocks the bark of this tree is grayish and deeply 

 furrowed. The perfect wood is soft and of a yellowish brown 

 color : it is fine-grained and susceptible of a brilliant polish. 



