32 FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES. 



in size (rarely it grows 45 feet high), and has hori- 

 zontal branches, a rough grayish trunk, and ellipti- 

 cal pointed leaves about two to five inches long, 

 dark shiny green above but lighter below. The 

 leaves turn a brilliant dark red in the autumn. The 

 wood is exceedingly close-grained, tough, and hard 



to split ; for this reason 

 it is employed in the 

 making of hubs, pul- 

 leys, and mauls. In 

 Virginia it is much used 

 by the ship-builders. 



The leaf of the 

 Water Tupelo. 



Nyssabiflor*. ^^ tu P el is 



Nyssa sylvatica, very nearly like 



Water Tupelo. vaK Uflora. 



that of the 

 foregoing species, but it is smaller ; we must rely, 

 therefore, on other means for the identification of the 

 tree. It grows from the pine barrens of New Jersey 

 southward. The blue fruit is smaller, and the stone 

 is decidedly flattened and strongly ridged ; this is not 

 the case in the other tupelo, which bears a larger fruit 

 with a rounder stone (ovoid) scarcely ridged at all. 

 Large Tupelo. The l ar ge tupelo bears a leaf from 

 Nyssa uniflora. four to ten inches long, which is 



Nyssa aquatica. , -, -, .-l j 



sometimes angularly toothed, and 

 often quite downy beneath ; it is also apt to be a 



