164 PKACTICAL FORESTRY. 



LAGUNCULARiA, Gffii't. — WMfe MangvovG. 



Small maritime, sub-tropical trees or shrubs, with evergreen, 

 opposite leaves, of au elliptical form, and thick and fleshy. 

 Flowers small, yellowish white, in simple or compound axillary 

 and terminal spikes. Fniit a drupo, with one seed or nut. Wo 

 have but one, or at most, two species. 



La^nncnlaria raceiiio^a, Gaert. — White Mangrove, Black Button 

 Tree. — Spikes upright, rii^id, hairy, the lateral ones solitary, 

 the terminal ones in threes, simple or branched. Flowers scat- 

 tered. A smaU tree or shrub in South Florida and the West 

 Indies. The L. glabriflora of Presl. is probably only a form of 

 the above, found in the same regions, neither of any value to 

 man so far as known, 



LiQriDAMBAR, L. — Swcet Gum. 



Deciduous trees, with monoecious flowers, in globular, four- 

 bracted spiked heads. The flowers are very small, and have 

 neither calyx or corolla, but sterile ones with numerous stamens. 

 Heads of sterile flowers sessile, crowded, those of fertile ones on 

 a long drooping peduncle. Seeds smaU, angled or scale-like. 

 One species belonging to this country. 



Liqnidambar Styraiiflna. — Sweet Gum, Bilsted, Alligator-tree. — 

 Leaves roundish, but with five to seven-pointed spreading lobes. 

 In autumn they assume a rich bronze color, but on some trees 

 they change to a crimson. The smaller branches are ornamented 

 with prominent corky ridges, and the young twigs can often 

 be selected of very curious shapes, having a fanciful resem- 

 blance to some of our reptiles, and this may have suggested 

 the name of Alligator tree, under which name the twigs are 

 frequently sold in the streets of New York. The Sweet Gum 

 is one of our most noble forest trees, somewhat resembling the 

 Sugar Maple, but with a more conical head, the branches 

 spreading widely, often drooping, with the ends curved upward. 

 It is also a rapid growing tree, and thrives on a great variety of 

 soils, from the light, dry, and sandy, to the cold and wet. Among 

 the first trees jjlanted on my lawn was one Liqnidambar, and 

 I have never regi-etted giving it a conspicuous position, as it is 

 one of the very best ornamental trees in my collection. The 

 wood of this tree is very light, but compact, fine grained, but 

 not hard, sometimes used for cabinet work, but owing to its 

 softness is easily bruised. It is what is termed une ren-grained 



