ECONOMIC OR USEFUL PLANTS 



413 



the red maple, the silver maple, box elder, etc., are planted for 

 ornament and shade. 



584. The linden family (Tiliaceiu). Our well-known repre- 

 sentative is the bass-wood or linden. The American linden 

 (Tilia americana) is a forest tree producing a soft white wood 

 occurring from New Brunswick to Georgia and Manitoba. 

 The white bass-wood, or " linn " tree as it is called in the 

 South, is a forest tree from New York to Florida and west 

 to Tennessee. It is sometimes called " bee-tree " and is 

 noted for the fine grade of honey made from the nectar 

 in the flowers. The bast (paragraph 98) of the bass-wood 

 trees forms long and stout fibers. The bast, or Russian bast 

 as it is sometimes called in certain trees, is used for making 

 coarse mats. " Jute " is the bast from certain tropical linden 

 plants (Corclwrus olitarius). 



585. The mallow family (Malvaceae) includes the holly- 

 hocks, mallows, rose of sharon (Hibiscus), cotton, etc. The 



Fig. 395- 

 Picking cotton. From Bureau Plant Industry. 



cotton plant is cultivated for the fiber on the seed. Cotton 

 (Gossypium) is the most important fiber plant known. The 



