574 



The Hop Trees 



I. THREE-LEAVED HOP-TREE Ptelea trifoUata Linnaeus 



Occurring from Ontario to Florida, jNIinnesota, Kansas and Texas as a well- 

 known shrub under various names, such as Shrubby trefoil, Whahoo, Quinine 



tree. Sang tree. Hop ash, Stinking ash, 

 Water ash, Wafer ash, and Wing seed, 

 this rarely becomes a tree 7.5 meters 

 tall, with a trunk diameter of 2 dm. 

 It has a rather disagreeable odor. 



The trunk is slender, the branches 

 spreading, forming a round top. The 

 bark is about 3 mm. thick, smooth or 

 nearly so and dark gray. The twigs 

 are slender, finely hairy when young, 

 soon becoming smooth, shining, dark 

 brown and marked by prominent leaf 

 scars. The winter buds are ver}^ small, 

 nearly round and whitish. The leaves 

 are 3-foliolate with a petiole 6 to 7.5 

 cm. long; leaflets sessile, ovate or elHp- 

 tic-oblong, I to 1.5 dm. long, usually 

 taper-pointed, rounded or narrowed at 

 the base, mostly entire on the margin, 



Fig. 529. Three-leaved Hop Tree. 



the terminal one largest and more gradually tapering toward the base; they are 

 hairy when unfolding, smooth at maturity and dark green and somewhat shining 

 above, paler, smooth or hair}' and prominently veined beneath. The flowers ap- 

 pear from March to June, according to latitude, the sterile and fertile flowers 

 borne in the same clusters, their pedicels slender, very hairy or nearly smooth; 

 petals ovate-oblong, 3 to 5 mm. long; ovary slightly hairy. The fruit is about 

 2.5 cm. in diameter, rounded or notched at the base, hanging on the slender pedi- 

 cels and persisting well into the winter. 



The wood is hard, close-grained, yellowish brown and satiny; its specific gravity 

 is about 0.83. The bark of the root is sparingly used as a bitter tonic and the 

 ripe fruit is said to be used as a substitute for hops. The plant is often seen in 

 cultivation, where its bright foHage and buff-colored fruits add pleasing variety to 

 the shrubbery. 



2. CALIFORNIA HOP TREE Ptelea crenulata Greene 



A small Cahfomian tree of the coast mountains and the western foothills of 

 the Sierra Nevada, attaining a height of 7.5 meters though usually much smaller 

 and often a shrub. Its odor is quite agreeably aromatic. 



The round twigs are hair}', becoming smooth and dark brown. The winter- 



