108. CLIFTONIA LIGUSTRINA TITI, BDCKWHEAT TREE. 33 



but usually much smaller and in the southernmost part of its range a mere 

 shrub. The bark of trunk is of a grayish-black color, checked into 

 firm and fine longitudinal ridges, and these when flaking off on the bases 

 of the largest trunks expose a layer of thin reddish-brown papery scales. 

 Often it is har.lly more than a tall shrub, and growing in very dense 

 and almost impenetrable thickets of great extent and where the stems 

 are crooked and very near together. Its lustrous foliage and showy clus- 

 ters of fragrant flowers in earliest spring make this tree at that season a 

 most attractive object. 



HABITAT. The coast region from South Carolina to central Florida 

 and thence westward into Louisiana, growing in moist swampy soil, par- 

 ticularly the swamps of the pine-barrens, and reaching its greatest develop- 

 ment in western Florida. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood heavy, rather hard, with many fine 

 medullary rays, very close-grained and susceptible of a smooth polish. 

 It is of a reddish-brown color with lighter sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 

 0.6249; Percentage af Ash, 0.42; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 

 0.6223; Coefficient of Elasticity, 78250; Modulus of Rupture, 526; Re- 

 sistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 371; Resistance to Indentation, 147; 

 Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 38.95. 



USES. The wood from this tree is little used except for fuel, and for 

 that it is highly prized. 



The Titi should be more extensively planted for ornamental purposes, 

 as it is one of the most beautiful of our trees in earliest spring-time. It 

 would be particularly appropriate for moist places, which would be per- 

 haps too moist for other trees more commonly planted. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are not recorded of this species. 



ORDER LEGUMINOSJE : PULSE FAMILY. 



Leaves alternate, usually compound, entire and furnished with stipules. Flowers 

 with 5 sepals more or less united at the base; petals 5, papilionaceous or regular; 

 stamens, diadelphous, monadelphous or distinct and with veisatile anthers; pistil 

 single, simple and free. Fruit a legume (pod) with mostly albumenless seeds. 



GENUS GLEDITSCHIA, LINNAEUS. 



Leaves abruptly once or twice pinnate and often the two forms on the same speci- 

 men. Flowers polygamous, greenish and inconspicuous, in small spike-like racemes; 

 calyx short, with 3^5 spreading lobes; petals 3-5, inserted on the base of the calyx and 

 the two lower sometimes united: stamens 3-5, occasionally more (and part of them 

 may be abortive), distinct, opposite the sepals and inserted on the base of the calyx; 

 sty'le short. Fruit a flat pod containing solitary or numerous flat seeds and often a 

 sweet pulp. 



Trees furnished with branched thorns which are usually supra-auxiliary. (Named 

 in compliment to John G. Gleditsch, a German botanist and friend of Linnaeus.) 



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