106 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



able to recognize these at least. Still it is not always the com- 

 monest species that are best known. The writer recalls a ser- 

 vice-berry tree that stood near the entrance of a public park 

 loaded wnth its dark red fruit in shape something like a tiny 

 apple or good sized huckleberry. Of the thousands who visited 

 the park and passed the tree with its palatable burden, none 

 appeared to consider the fruit worth tasting. And so it hap- 

 pened that his own party was able to harvest somewhat more 

 than a quart of the sweet and juicy berries. The service berry 

 is also known as the June berry, and shad-bush. Under the 

 latter name it is familiar to nearly everyone in the regions 

 where it grows, for its cloud of conspicuous white blossoms 

 lights up the vernal woods before the leaves have opened and 

 fairly forces the species on our attention. But by June the 

 blossoms have been forgotten and the fruit passes unrecog- 

 nized. The name of shad-bush was given the tree because it 

 was supposed to bloom at the time when the shad appeared 

 in the rivers. 



The bass-wood, called linden by the Germans, is another 

 conspicuous member of our woodlands, forming a tall straight 

 trunk of considerable girth. It is also known as white-wood, 

 lime tree, and bee-tree. Its wood is soft and light and was 

 once considered of little use, so much so, in fact, that it has 

 passed into a proverb, "a bass-wood boy," being considered 

 synonymous with a good-for-nothing youngster. Basswood 

 however, has its uses. The wood is now frequently used for 

 panelling and the tough inner bark called bass or bast is 

 made into coarse mats, rope, and twine. From the bloom of 

 the basswood the bees extract a great deal of honey, equal in 

 the opinion of many, to the best clover honey. The fruit of 

 basswood is a hard round nut the size of a pea, which is borne 

 in small clusters on a winged peduncle. 



In most localities when one speaks of sassafras the image 

 of a low bush or shrub usually comes to mind. It will perhaps 



