1879J 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



3U9 



The botanical name isTillandsiausneoides. The 

 long thread-like stems of ashen hue bear narrow- 

 leaves an inch long, and of the same color, 

 placed opp(jsite each other. The l)lossoms 

 start from the angles of the leaves^ and are also 

 grey. A single live oak is often covered with a 

 thousand pounds of this epiphyte. The oak 

 leaves remain green during the whole Winter, 

 and fall off in April to make room for the new 

 ones. The trunk generally attains great thick- 

 ness, and the branches extend from it to a dis- 

 tance of thirty to forty feet. The dense foliage 

 affords abundant shade. The live oaks grow 

 throughout central Texas, not as woods by 

 themselves, but rather in groups in the open 

 country, with dense under-brush, and go as far 

 as the Gulf. As for instance, on the Caney river, 

 where with other trees the}'^ stand in forests. 

 Sometimes a solitary and fully developed oak is 

 met with on the prairie. The region of live 

 oaks extends far into the mountains. They are 

 said to reach the age of upwards of a thousand 

 years. Their wood is as iirm as iron, and there- 

 fore much in demand for railroad sleepers. 



Another oak, the red oak, Quercus rubra, ap- 

 pears in vast quantities and mostly in the form 

 of woods. An insigniticant looking tree with 

 dark green foliage ; the trunk so little straight 

 and so much branched that its wood is only good 

 for fire wood; the bark is good for banning. It 

 prefers to grow on the mountains, and is found 

 to cover their very tops. Quercus coccinea is 

 similar to the red oak, and appears among the 

 red oak woods. Its bark is also good for tan- 

 ning. 



Qaercus cinerea, of eastern Texas, mentiowed 

 above, is still met with in groups west of the 

 Brazos, and is the lirst of all oaks to bloom in 

 the Spring. 



Generally on the high ridges of the mountains, 

 and rarely in the valleys, we find the white oak, 

 Quercus alba, with trunk and branches as white 

 as the birch, of snowy whiteness in fact, and its 

 smooth bark peeling off in rings. Light green 

 foliage, leaf large and deeply dented, and good 

 sized acorn. Its wood is white and beautiful, and 

 much liked for fiu-niture. Tliis oak does not 

 grow higher than twenty feet here, is of sparse 

 foliage, and never makes a strong tree. 



A remarkable kind of oak is Q. macrocarpa, 

 found only in the valley of San Saba, growing 

 as high as sixty feet, and bearing an acorn as 

 large as a pigeon's egg. Its wood is in good de- 

 mand. 



Finally we must mention Q. parva, a dwarf 

 oak, seldom higher than five feet, with small 

 leathery evergreen leaves with thorny edges, 

 and a very small acorn, bearing abundantly ; 

 it likes to grow amongst the live oaks, and 

 forms in the higher valleys extensive brush- 

 wood. 



Next to the Oak, the Mesquitc, Algorobia 

 glandulosa, is the princii)al and most characteris- 

 tic tree of central Texas. East of the Colorado 

 it appears but rarely, and in the shape of brush- 

 wood only; west of the Colorado its forests are 

 immense, reaching as far as the Guadelupe, and 

 between the Guadelupe and the Medina, hill, 

 dale and mountain are covered by the Mcsquite, 

 and almost no other tree meets the eye. The 

 Mesquite hardly ever exceeds two feet in thick- 

 ness, and grows about thirty feet high, has a 

 splendid," somewhat' tropical look, leaves of a 

 light green color, light and drooping, blossoms 

 in yellow clusters, and of very pleasant odor. 

 Its habit is very similar to that of a weeping 

 willow. The fruit is a pod of five to seven 

 inches in length, containing from ten to twenty 

 seeds. The outer skin of the pod is of the 

 nature of paper, the pod itself is filled with pulp, 

 which envelopes the bean-like seeds. Hence its 

 value for fodder for cattle. The pods are eaten 

 by horses and cows oft" the tree, and quantities 

 of them are collected and saved for AV inter. In 

 Jamaica and in Australia the English govern- 

 ment has, for the sake of this fodder, introduced 

 the Mesquite tree, and it is said with very good 

 success. The trunk exudes a rosin which is not 

 inferior to gum arable, and is collected and ex- 

 ported. The wood is of two colors, the inner 

 part is reddish-brown ; the outer, nearest the 

 bark, light yellow, and makes nice ornaments 

 for furniture, and is worked into boxes, etc., but 

 is mostly used as fuel, burning slowly and giving 

 out a great deal of heat. 



In the mountains the Virginia cedar, Juniper- 

 us Virginiana, forms vast forests. It is also 

 found in the valleys here and there on rich soil, 

 but of entirely different habit, rising up straight 

 and slender with few branches, whilst on the 

 heights it seldoms exceeds twenty feet and has 

 a broad top. On account of its durability the 

 wood is much used for building, and principally 

 for fences. 



Besides the trees enumerated, there is the 

 hackberry and the black walnut in woods, or 

 mixed with other trees, and here and there as 

 solitary trees. 



