Handbook of Times 



OKTIIKRN 



States and Canada. 241 



i"he Large-fruited Mountain-Ash is a hand- 

 some tree, sometimes attaining the height of 

 30 ft. with trunk 12 in. in diameter and vested 

 in a smooth lustrous silvery gray bark. When 

 isolated from other tri'<'s it develops a sym- 

 metrical ovoid or rounded lop. It is distinctly 

 a boreal tree, hcinj,' at Ikimic ;iI(iiii; the boid<'rs 

 of swamps and streams and by the spring's 

 on mountain sides of the far north, where th'' 

 beauty of its flowers and fruit are unsurpassed 

 by those of any other tree of those regions. 

 The tree has long been considered identical with 

 a northern Asiatic species, the P. sambucifoliu 

 C. & S, (Elder-leaf Mountain-Ash) and has 

 been so named in the books generally upon 

 American trees. Its distinctness from that 

 species, however, has recently been pointed out 

 and it has been given the name S. scopuUna. 

 Though considered by some as a variety of 

 .Sf. Americana its specific distinctness would 

 seem to be clearljr indicated by its larger and 

 earlier flowers in smaller clusters, its large 

 fruit and broader, more obtuse leaflets and 

 hairy winter buds. It is a particularly beauti- 

 ful tree in autumn, when bearing among its 

 blue-green foliage its nodding clusters of bright 

 red fruit. 



The wood is light, a cubic foot wcigliing 36,94 

 lbs., soft and but little used. 2 



Leaves usually 4-6 in. long with i-eddish-petioles, 

 and 7-1.5 oblons-oval to ovate-lanceolate, sub- 

 sessile leafiots, rounded or tapering, inequilateral 

 and entire at hasp, sharply serrate above, mostly 

 obtuse or acute at apex, pubescent at first but at 

 maturity glabrous dark bluisli green above, paler 

 and usually moie or less pubi'scont beneath ; leaf- 

 buds hairy. Flrjircry in latter part of .Tune, 

 Vi-% in. across, in pnhesccnt cymes 2-4 in. broad. 

 Fruit subgloboso, bright red, from 14 -i^ in. in 

 diameter. 



1. Syn. Pjjriis saiitbucifolia 

 Americana var. decora Sarg. 



2. A. W., IV, S4. 



Sorhiis 



