8 



8ILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. laurace^. 



Persea pubescens is confined to the immediate coast region of the south Atlantic and Gulf states^ 

 where it is found from North Carolina to Mississippi growing in the thin sour soil of Pine-barren 

 swamps^ which it often covers almost to the exclusion of other plants.^ 



The wood of Persea pubescens is heavy, soft, strong, and close-grained; it contains numerous thin 



medullary rays and many large open ducts, and is orange-colored streaked with brown, with thick hght 



brown or gray sapwood composed of thirty-six or forty layers of annual growth. The specific gravity 



of the absolutely dry wood is 0.6396, a cubic foot weighing 39.86 pounds. 



Persea pubescens was first distinguished by Frederick Pursh ^ in his Flora Americce Septentri^ 

 onalisy published in London in 1814. 



nature of the bark and wood, — indicate a distinct species, although, ^ Elliott, S\ 



except in the length of the peduncles, there are no good floral ^ 3^^ y^ 39^ 



(under Laurus Carolinensis) 



their fruits are identical. 



distinguished, and 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE 



Plate CCCII. Persea pubescens. 



1. A flowering branch, natural size. 



2. A flower, enlarged. 



3. Vertical section of a flower, enlarged. 



4. A fruiting branch, natural size. 



5. Vertical section of a fruit, enlarged. 



6. An embryo, enlarged. 



