46 HOUGH'S AMERICAN WOODS. 



with prominent longitudinal ridges, which peel off in strips. It is a 

 tree with rather wide-spreading top, when growing by itself, with light 

 airy foliage and trunk very wide at base and reinforced with strong but- 

 resses, an evident necessity to give the tree stability in the soft wet soil 

 in which it grows. 



Another interesting peculiarity of the tree is its habit of sending up 

 from its large roots, when growing in very soft ground, conical or stee- 

 ple-shaped projections, known as "cypress knees," varying from a few 

 inches to 3 or 4 ft. in hight above the surface of the ground. They are 

 hollow, excepting the smallest, covered with a .smoothish bark like that 

 of the roots, destitute of branches and foliage, and their function or use 

 to the tree has never been satisfactorily explained. Perhaps they aid the 

 tree in securing a firmer footing in the loose soil in which it grows. 



HABITAT. From southern Delaware southward along the coast nearly 

 to the southern extremity of Florida, and westward through the Gulf 

 States to central Texas, up the Mississippi valley to southern Illinois and 

 Indiana, growing along the inundated bottom lands which border many 

 of the southern streams, swamps and ponds of the Pine barrens. In 

 such localities, unfit for almost every other use the bald Cypress flour- 

 ishes in sometimes very extensive forests, and where it is likely to hold 

 undisputed sway in years to come. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft and of medium strength, 

 easily worked, close-grained, compact, very durable in contact with the 

 soil, medullary rays thin and numerous; of a light or dark brown color, 

 with brownish-white sap-wood. Specific Gravity, 0.4543; Percentage of 

 Ash, 0.42; Relative Approximate Fuel Value, 0.4524; Coefficient of Elas- 

 ticity, 103206; Modulus of Rupture, 682; Resistance to Longitudinal 

 Pressure, 423; Resistance to Indentation, 81; Weight of a Cubic Foot in 

 Pounds, 28.31. 



USES. One of the most valuable trees of its range, being extensively 

 manufactured into lumber for general construction purposes, coopering, 

 fencing, railway ties, etc. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES are not claimed of this species. 



NOTE. The lumbermen of the Cypress regions recognize two kinds 

 of Cypress lumber, as " Black" and " White," the former being of a 

 darker brown color, harder and more durable than the latter. The dif- 

 ference seems to be solely in the wood itself and doubtless occasioned by 

 the conditions of environment during growth, as botanists can find no 

 distinction in other characters. 



GENUS TORREYA, ARNOTT.* 



Leaves evergreen, linear to linear-subulate, subsessile, convex and lustrous dark- 

 green above, concave, paler, and marked with two conspicuous parallel grooves run- 



* Tumion, Rafenesque. 



