514 T^he Trees of Great Britain and Ireland 



Michaux states that it endures the climate of Paris, and does not exact in Europe 

 as moist a soil as it constantly requires in the United States. (A. H.) 



Timber 



According to Holroyd,* it has only recently been possible to market the timber 

 of this tree, and under a fictitious name, so great has been the prejudice against this 

 and others known as gums. Formerly when lands bearing tupelo and cypress were 

 logged, the cypress alone was taken, and tupelo trees from 2 to 3 feet in diameter 

 were left, because the lumbermen considered them to be worthless. At present, 

 however, tupelo timber is extensively cut in Alabama, near Mobile, as well as in 

 Southern and Central Louisiana. The best grades closely resemble the Yellow 

 Poplar {Liriodendron). The wood has a fine uniform texture, is moderately hard 

 and strong, not elastic, but very tough and hard to split, and easy to work with 

 tools. It is not durable in contact with the ground, and requires much care in 

 seasoning. It is now extensively used for house flooring and indoor finish. Mr. 

 Weale informs me that it has a tendency to warp and split which cannot be 

 prevented by any known process of seasoning ; and only a small quantity has as 

 yet been imported to England, in the form of boards, which are worth from 

 IS. gd. to 2s. per cubic foot, and are used by the makers of cheap furniture. But 

 he thinks that if it was sent in boards as well planed as those of the so-called 

 Hazel Pine, it would be more attractive, and its consumption would increase. 



(H. J. E.) 



NYSSA SINENSIS, Chinese Tupelo 



Nyssa sinensis, Oliver, in Hooker, Icon. Plant, t. 1964 (1891). 



A tree, attaining in China 40 feet in height. Young shoots covered with a 

 dense appressed white short pubescence, retained in the second year. Leaves 

 (Plate 199, Fig. i) elliptical, base tapering, apex acuminate, margin entire and ciliate ; 

 upper surface dull, dark green, and glabrous except for some slight pubescence on 

 the midrib towards the base ; lower surface light green, shining, pilose on the midrib 

 and chief veins and occasionally on the veinlets ; petiole, ^ to | inch long, pilose. 



Flowers, on long slender axillary peduncles, pedicellate, crowded in racemose 

 clusters. Staminate flowers with a minute calyx, narrow oblong petals, and five to 

 ten stamens on a fleshy disc. Pistillate flowers imperfectly known, but with bifid 

 style and glabrous ovary. Fruit in clusters of about three, on short pedicels at the 

 ends of long (two to three inches) erect or ascending pubescent peduncles ; oblong, 

 bluish, I inch long ; flesh scanty ; stone with ten inconspicuous longitudinal ribs. 



This is a rare fee, occurring in mountain woods in Central China, in the 

 western part of Hupeh, and on the Lushan Mountains, near Kiukiang, in Kiangsi.'^ 

 It was discovered by me in 1888, and was subsequently found by Mr. E. H. 

 Wilson, who sent home seed to Messrs. Veitch in 1902, from which a single plant 

 has been raised at Coombe Wood, where it is perfectly hardy so far. (A. H.) 



> U.S. Dept. Agrk., Forest Service Circular, No. 40 (1906). " E. H. Wilson in Card. Chrott. xlii. 344 (1907). 



