Texan Madrona 



759 



entire or sometimes wavy toothed on the margin, dark green and shining above, 

 much paler, with prominent venation beneath; the leaf-stalk is stout, 12 to 25 mm. 

 long. The flowers appear from March 

 to June, according to latitude, in terminal 

 panicles, 12 to 15 cm. across; the pedicels 

 are slender, minutely hsiiry, and bracteo- 

 late; the calyx is 5-parted, white and 

 dryish, 3 mm. long; the corolla is globu- 

 lar, white and 5-lobed; ovary smooth, 

 upon an obscurely lo-lobed disk. The 

 fruit, ripening in September, is a 5-celled, 

 berry-Uke drupe, subglobose, obovoid or 

 oval 12 mm. long, bright orange; the 

 stone is 5-parted, leathery, each part con- 

 taining several seeds which are small, an- 

 gular, brown, and hairy. 



The wood is hard, strong, close- 

 grained, Hght reddish brown; its specific 

 gravity about 0.70; it is used to a shght extent for furniture and largely burned 

 for charcoal, for use in the manufacture of gunpowder. The astringent bark has 

 been used in tanning and in medicine. It is the handsomest and largest member 

 of the Heath family, at least in North America. 



Fig. 693. Madrona. 



evergreen tree or 



2. TEXAN MADRONA Arbutus texana Buckley 



Arbutus xalapensis S. Watson, not Humboldt, Bonpland and Kunth 



A small 

 shrub, entering southwestern 

 Texas from adjacent Mexico, 

 where it is quite abundant; it 

 grows on hills, attaining a 

 maximum height of 6 meters, 

 with a trunk diameter of 2.5 

 dm. It is also called Mexican 

 madrona, Madroiia tree, Man- 

 zanita, and Laurel. 



The trunk is ven' short and 

 much branched, the branches 

 more or less crooked and 

 spreading. The bark is about 

 6 mm. thick, furrowed, dark 

 brown and separates into 

 Fig. 694. -Texan Madrona. ^liiiiis; on younger stems it is 



