Silverbell Tree 



793 



The wood is soft, strong, dense and light brown, its specific gravity about 0.57. 



This very elegant plant with graceful branches and showy white flowers, makes 

 a most desirable object for southern gardens; it is hardy as far north as south- 

 eastern Pennsylvania. 



2. SILVERBELL TREE Halesia caroUna Linnaeus 



Halesia tctraptera Linnaeus. Mohrodendron carolinum Britten 



This very beautiful small tree or shrub is also known as the Snowdrop tree, 

 Wild oHve tree. Bell tree, Opossomwood, CaHcowood, Tisswood, Peawood, and 

 Rattle box. It occurs from West Virginia, to southern Illinois, and Arkansas, south- 

 ward to central Florida, and eastern Texas, attaining its greatest dimensions of 

 about 27 meters high, with a trunk diameter of i m. in the mountains of North 

 Carolina and Tennessee. 



The branches are stout and ascending. The bark is about 12 mm. thick, with 

 rounded ridges, which separate into thin scales 

 of a red -brown color. The twigs are slender, 

 thickly hairy at first, soon becoming smooth or 

 nearly so, and grayish brovra. The leaves are 

 thin and firm, oblong, oval or ovate, 5 to 17 

 cm. long, taper-pointed, narrowed or rounded 

 at the base, finely toothed on the margin, 

 haiiy at first, soon becoming smooth except on 

 the nerves, bright green above, paler and more 

 or less hairy beneath, becoming bright yellow 

 in autumn; the leaf-stalk is i to 2 cm. long. 

 The flowers open from March to May, de- 

 pendent upon location; they are in clusters or 

 few-flowered racemes on the branches of the 

 previous season, on slender, smooth, drooping 

 pedicels 2.5 to 5 cm. long; the calyx is 5 to 6 

 mm. long, smooth, its spreading lobes triangu- 

 lar and shai-p-pointed ; the corolla is bell-shaped, 2 to 2.5 cm. long, the lobes 

 smooth, rounded, shorter than the tube; the 10 to 16 stamens, like the style, are 

 smooth and slender; the ovary is 4-celled. The fruit remains upon the branches 

 far into the winter, it is oblong or oblong-obovoid, 4 to 5 cm. long, 4-winged, 

 tipped by the persistent style, its stone obovoid, slightly ridged. 



The wood is soft, close-grained, and brown; its specific gravity is about 0.56. 

 It is said to be sawed and sometimes sold for Cherry. In cuhivation this is a most 

 striking object when in flower, and is often seen in parks and on lawns from 

 Massachusetts southward. 



Fig. 721. Silverbell Tree. 



