42 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



(Thyoides is from TJmya, the generic name of the Arbor-Vitae, and eY<5o, re- 

 semblance.) 



A graceful, handsome tree, sometimes attaining the height of 80 ft. 

 (24 m.) with a trunk 3 or 4 feet (1 m.) or more in diameter, covered with 

 a reddish-brown bark which checks and peels off lengthwise in thin 

 strips, giving to old trunks a ragged, shaggy appearance. 



HABITAT. Along the coast from Maine to Florida and thence west- 

 ward to Mississippi, growing principally in swamps, where it is some- 

 times the exclusive timber and growing so densely as to be almost im- 

 penetrable. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood very light, soft, not strong, close- 

 grained and very durable in contact with the soil. Of a light pinkish- 

 brown color when fresh, but growing darker in time, and with lighter 

 sap-wood. It is of pleasant odor, very much resembling, when freshly 

 cut, that of the red cedar. /Specific Gravity, 0.3322; Percentage of Ash, 

 0.33; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.3311; Coefficient of Elasticity, 

 40410; Modulus of Rupture, 456; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 

 259; Resistance to Indentation. 67; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 

 20.70. 



USES. A very valuable timber for shingles, wooden-ware, cooperage^ 

 siding for small boats, posts, railway ties, fencing, etc. Posts of this 

 timber are said to last sometimes half a century. The wood also makes 

 excellent lampblack and charcoal. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES. None are officmally recognized of this 

 species. 



GENUS PIN US, TOURN. 



Leaves evergreen, needle-shaped, from slender buds, in clusters of 2-5 together, 

 each cluster invested at its base with a sheath of thin, membraneous scales. Flowers 

 appearing in spring, mono3cious. Sterile flowers in catkins, clustered at the base of 

 the shoots of the season; stamens numerous with very short filaments and a scale- 

 like connective; anther cells 2, opening lengthwise; pollen grains triple. Fertile 

 powers in conical or cylindrical spikes cones consisting of imbricated, carpellary 

 scales, each in the axil of a persistent bract and bearing at its base within a pair of 

 inverted ovules. Fruit- maturing in the autumn of the second year, a cone formed 

 of the imbricated carpellary scales, which are woody, often thickened or awned at 

 the apex, persistent, when ripe dry and spreading to liberate the two, nut-like, winged 

 seeds; cotyledons 3-12, linear. 



(Pinus is a Latin word from Celtic pin or pen, a crag.) 



