70 EEPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OP AGRICULTURE. 



LlQUiDAMBAR tiTYJiAOJLb'LUA — i^wcet-gum ; Red-guon ; Bilsted. 



The sweet-gum is a large tree, native in tiie United States Ironi Con- 

 necticut westward to Illinois, southward to Floridaand Texas, tliencc into 

 Central and Southern Mexico. It belongs to the witcli-hazel l;iniily 

 {Eamamelacece). It grows from 80 to 150 feet high, reaching its greatest 

 dev^elopment in bottom lands of the Lower Mississippi. Its symmet- 

 rical, compact form and bright, glossy, star-shaped leaves make it one of 

 the most beautiful trees of the forest. The flowers are of two kinds, 

 the male and female being in distinct clusters 5 the male flowers are in 

 a raceme of small, globular clusters at the end of the twigs, having very 

 many stamens intermixed with small scales. The female flowers are 

 situated below the male ones ; they are inconspicuous at first, but grad- 

 ually enlarge into a round head or cluster of two-celled ovaries, each 

 with two beak-like points, the whole when mature forming a globular, 

 spiny ball of about an inch diameter. The leaves are from 3 to 6 inches 

 in diameter, rounded in outline, and divided into from 3 to 7, usually 

 about 5, pointed lobes. They are smooth and shining, finely serrated 

 on the margins, and fragrant when bruised. In the warm portions of 

 the country and in Mexico a balsamic juice flows from the tree, which 

 has medical properties. The United States Dispensatory states that 

 this juice " is a liquid of the consistence of thin honey, more or less 

 transparent, of a yellowish color, of a peculiar, agreeable balsamic odor, 

 and a bitter, warm, and acrid taste. It concretes by time, assuming a 

 darker color. It is sometimes collected in the form of tears, produced 

 by the spontaneous concretion of the exuded juice." This resinous 

 gum has properties very similar to that of the true storax which is 

 yielded by an allied species of Liquidamhar growing in Asia Minor. 

 The gum of our native tree has been collected to a considerable extent 

 for the preparation of chewing gum ; it has also been medicinally em- 

 ployed lor the same purpose as storax, in the treatment of catarrhal 

 affections and of pulmonary complaints. Plate VII. 



GiirNDELiA noBVSTA— Gum-plant. 



An herbaceous perennial plant of the order Comjjositce, growing in 

 California. It has an erect, leafy stem, 1 to 2 feet high, branching near 

 the top, the branches terminated by a single composite head of flowers, 

 somewhat resembling the flower-head of saffron, the body of which is 

 about 1 inch across, with the narrow, strap-shaped, yellow flowers spread- 

 ing out in every direction from the margin. The leaves are alternate, 

 rigid, mostly oblong, the upper ones lanceolate, the base sessile o) 

 partly clasping the stem, and the margins often with coarse sharp teeth, 

 the upper ones becoming entire. The flower-head, which is usually rv- 

 garded as a single flower, is really a compact mass of small flowers o! 

 two kinds, the inner cues having a tubular corolla, and the outer or 

 marginal ones having a long, strap-shaped corolla. This cluster of 

 flowers is surrounded by an involucre of many lanceolate-pointed, green 

 scales, whose tips are recurved, presenting a rough appearance. This 

 in^^olucre is usually gummy with a balsamic exudation. 



The central flowers of the head are generally infertile and are copi- 

 ously supplied with fine, bristle-like pappus. The outer flowers or a few 

 of them are fertile, producing a small, oblong, smooth seed. This plant 

 is common throughout the western part of the State of California and 

 is commonly known as gum-plant, or sometimes, but improperly, tar- 

 weed. There are three or four other species of Ch'indelia in California, 



