304 



Styracaceae. 



(T^\ 



Halesia. Silver Bell. 

 (Family Styracaceae). 



Shrubs or small trees, or in the 

 mountains of Tennessee large 

 trees, with shredding bark: de- 

 ciduous. Wood brownish, dif- 

 fused-porous with very fine 

 medullary rays. Twigs mod- 

 erate, at first stellate-scurfy, te- 

 rete: pith rather small, round, 

 finally chambered, white. Buds 

 moderate, superposed, ovoid, with 

 about 4 fleshy red scales. Leaf- 

 scars alternate, somewhat raised, 

 moderate, half-round, notched: 

 bundle-trace 1, crescent-shaped, 

 compound : stipule-scars lacking. 

 (Mohrodendron) . 



The woody fruits are frequent- 

 ly persistent well into the winter. 

 When present they are character- 

 istic of the species, 4-winged in 

 H. Carolina, and 2-winged in H. 

 diptera, which is not easily differentiated otherwise. 



Winter-character references: Halesia Carolina (H. te- 

 traptera). Schneider, f. 87. H. corymbosa. Shirasawa, 233, 

 pi. 1. H. hispida. Shirasawa, 233, pi. 1. 



The scaly trunk of a very large tree of Halesia Carolina 

 or Mohrodendron carolinum is pictured in connection with an 

 account of the silver bells as timber trees (p. 601) in an in- 

 structive book on American Forest Trees, which consists sub- 

 stantially of articles published between 1905 and 1913 in the 

 journal Hardwood Record, by Henry H. Gibson. 

 Glabrate: buds acute, slightly stalked. (1). H. Carolina. 



Puberulent: buds obtuse: pith less chambered. (2). H. diptera. 



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