ECONOMIC OR USEFUL PLANTS 443 



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

 ornament and shade. 



599. The linden family (Tiliacecc). 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 104) 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 (Corchorus olitarius). 



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

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



Fig. 409. 

 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 



