285. SYMLOCOS TINCTORIA HORSE-SUGAR. 33 



Flowers in early spring, creamy white and fragrant, subsessile in several-flowered 

 clusters from the axils of the leaves of the previous season; calyx cup-shaped, 

 puberulous, with rounded lobes; corolla ^4 in. long, oblong, obtuse, each lobe 

 bearing a cluster of exserted stamens; ovary 3-celled with 5 nectiferous glands 

 opposite the lobes of calyx. Fruit (August-September) an oblong nut-like 

 pubescent drupe about y 3 in. long. 



The Sweet-leaf is a small tree, occasionally 35 ft. (10 m.) in height 

 and 8 or 10 in (0.30 m.) in thickness of trunk. The bark of trunk 

 is quite smooth, being only very slightly fissured lengthwise with 

 age. It is not commonly that trees of the above dimensions, or 

 approximating them, are found, and it is often only a shrub in stature. 



HABITAT. From southern Delaware southward to Florida and 

 westward through the Gulf States to western Louisiana and southern 

 Arkansas. It is a peculiarly shade-loving tree, rarely ever being 

 found except in the shade of forests of taller growth. 



PHYSICAL PROPERTIES. Wood light, soft, of very close fine grain, 

 with many very small and quite uniformly distributed ducts and very 

 fine medullary rays. It is of a creamy white color, the heart-wood 

 of very old trees only showing a somewhat redder tint. Specific 

 Gravity, 0.5325; Percentage of Ash, 0.68; Relative Approximate 

 Fuel Value, 0.5289; Coefficient of Elasticity, 62202; Modulus of 

 Eupture, 619; Resistance to Longitudinal Pressure, 384; Resistance 

 to Indentation, 159 ; Weight of a Cubic Foot in Pounds, 33.19. 



USES. Too uncommon a wood of sufficient size to be of com- 

 mercial importance, though possessed of qualities that would make 

 it excellent for use in turnery, for small articles of wooden-ware, e+c. 



ORDER OLEACE^: OLIVE FAMILY. 



Leaves mostly opposite, simple or compound and without stipules. Flowers 

 perfect, dioecious or polygamous, regular and in panicles, cymes or fascicles; calyx 

 inferior, 2-4-lobed or none; corolla of 2-4 petals or none; "disk none; stamens 2-4 

 with short filaments and introrse 2-celled anthers, dehiscent usually by lateral 

 longitudinal slits; ovary superior, 2-celled with 2 pendulous anatropous ovules in 

 each cell; style simple. Fruit in the American arborescent representatives a 

 samara or berry with pendulous seeds containing straight embryo and fleshly 

 albumen. 



Tree* and shrubs widely distributed throughout tropical and temperate regions, 

 particularly of the northern hemisphere, and some of great economic value. There 

 are about 20 genera and 500 species. Five genera are indigenous to the United 

 States and of these four have arborescent representatives. 



GENUS FRAXINTJS, L. 



Leaves deciduous, odd-pinnately compound, petiolate; leaflets conduplicate in 

 the bud and usually serrate. Floicers in early spring, from the axils of the leaves 

 of the previous season, mostly dioecious or polygamous (occasionally perfect) in 

 fasciculate panicles; calyx small, campanulate or none; corolla 2-4-parted or 

 none; stamens usually 2 with short terate filaments and large oblong anthers 



