28 NANTUCKET TREES 



coffee tree vill grow in fairly northern latitudes but 

 it does not seem happy on Nantucket. Kentucky settlers 

 are said to have used the seeds as a substitute for 

 coffee. It vas evidently not a popular substitute. At 

 any rate, Nantucket cannot so avail itself, as it does 

 not fruit here. The collector's chief interest in this 

 tree is in its huge, twice-compound leaf. Only the 

 Hercules Club, Aral i a sDinosa L., has a more elaborate 

 compounding. 



Ailanthus ilandulosa Desf. also has a large com- 

 pound leaf. Ailanthus is M A Tree" that "Grows in 

 Brooklyn. " It seems at home whether in backyards of 

 city slums or in the more open spaces of Nantucket. Its 

 grey bark is quickly lichen-covered in the moist sea air. 

 Its long, frond-like leaves, surrounding a mass of 

 reddened fruits are most decorative. With such beauty 

 it is almost a pity to mention the disagreeable odor of 

 the trees vith staminate blooms. There is a tall 

 Ailanthus on High Street; there are several beautiful 

 specimens along the main road just after entering 

 Siasconset . 



Even in vacation time Academy Hill is not de- 

 serted. The bees gather honey from the linden tree in 

 front of the High School, drawn by the fragrance of its 

 small yellow blossoms. The linden is a tree of many 

 names. In the Biglow Papers, James Russell Lowell uses 

 another name : 



The lime-trees pile their solid stacks o' shade 

 An 1 drows'ly simmer with the "bees' sweet trade. 31 



Two commoner American names are basswood and 

 whitewood. There are a confusing number of forms of 

 linden on Nantucket. Of the large-leaved forms, Till a 

 neilecta Spach. is in Civic Park and Tllia euchlora K. , 

 on Easton Street. The small-leaved forms are more fre- 

 quent about town/ both Tilia cordata Mill., the English 

 lime of Academy Hill and Tilia vulgaris L. of Ray's Court 



The name whitewood is applied also to an entire- 

 ly different tree, the tulip tree, Liriodendron Tulivi- 

 fera L., because it also has soft, white, fine-grained 

 wood valuable for wood-working. On the mountains of 

 Pennsylvania and farther south the tulip tree makes a 



