84. PYKUS SAMBUCIFOLIA ELDER-LEAVED MOUNTAIN ASH. 25 



12 in. (0.30 m.) in diameter of trunk, with spur-like lateral branchlets 

 and bark of trunk of a grayish brown color and which checks longitud- 

 inally with age in shreds and loose scaly ridges. Often it is hardly more 

 than a shrub, but it always makes its presence known when in blossom 

 by the delicious fragrance of its flowers, perfuming the atmosphere 

 about, and eliciting the highest encomiums in its praise. Later, in 

 auttimr,, the beauty and fragrance of its fruit, remaining on in part 

 long after the leaves have fallen, form a scarcely less attractive feature. 



HABITAT. Western Xew York, Ontario, and westward to Iowa, and 

 southward especially along the Alleghanies to about the northern border 

 of the Gulf States, thriving best in rather moist soil and commonly in 

 glades with other timbers. It attains its greatest development in the 

 lower Ohio basin and in the States west of the Mississippi river. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. "Wood rather heavy and hard, very close- 

 grained, with light reddish brown and very irregular heart-wood and 

 buff-white sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.7048; Percentage of Ash, 0.52; 

 Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.7011; Coefficient of Elasticity, 64241; 

 Modulus of Riqrture, 485; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 419; 

 Resistance to Indentation, 250 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 43.92. 



USES. The wood of this tree is little used, though its fruit is occa- 

 sionally gathered for cider and preserves, where nothing better can be 

 obtained. As an ornamental tree it is of recognized value and not infre- 

 quently planted in this county and abroad. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are not recognized of this species. 



84. PYRUS SAMBUCIFOLIA, C. & S. 



ELDER-LEAVED MOUNTAIN ASH. 

 Ger., Schlehdorn; Fi\, Sorbier; Sp., Mostajo. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS: Leaves odd-pinnately compound, glabrous except when 

 young, with usually 11-15 oblong to lance-ovate and mostly obtuse or abruptly 

 pointed leaflets, with margins serrate (sometimes doubly) with spreading teeth, pale 

 beneath, short- petiolulate excepting the terminal leaflet, conduplicate in vernation; 

 stipules foliaceous, early deciduous; leaf-buds large, sparingly hairy. Flowers, when 

 leaves are fully grown, small (3-8 in. in diameter), in dense compound pubescent 

 cymes; calyx glabrous or nearly so, the pointed lobes ciliate-margined; petals white, 

 obovate, furnished with a short claw; styles usually three, separate. Fruit a scar- 

 let, subglobose, berry-like pome, about 3-8 in. in diameter and with thin acid flesh, 

 borne in dense clusters, persisting long after the leaves have fallen. 



(The specific name, sauibnrifolia, is the Latin for Elder-leaved, alluding to the re- 

 semblance in the leaves of this tree to those of the Elder.) 



A small tree, and often but a shrub, rarely over 30 ft. (9 m.) in height 

 or 12 in. (0.30 m.) in diameter of trunk, with broad well-rounded head 

 and smooth golden-gray satiny bark, blotched with whitish and exfoliat- 

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