WAHOO 



(Evonymus Atropurfiureus) 



NO one seems to know what the original meaning of the word wahoo 

 was. It is applied to no fewer than six different trees in this 

 country, four of them elms, one a basswood, and one the tree now under 

 consideration. The generic name, Evonymus, appears to be an effort to 

 put somebody's seal of approval on the name, for it means in the Greek 

 language "of good name." 



It belongs to the family Celastracece, which means the staff family. 

 Some designate members of this group as "Spindle trees," because 

 formerly in Europe the wood was employed for knitting needles, hooks 

 for embroidering, spindles for spinning wheels, and the like. Unless the 

 members of the family in Europe have wood quite different from that 

 of the wahoo tree in this country, no adequate reason can be found for the 

 use of the wood for spindles or staffs, because it is poor material for that 

 purpose. It may be compared with basswood. 



This beautiful little tree, scarcely more than a shrub in most regions 

 of its growth, is a widely distributed species, its range extending through 

 western New York to Nebraska, southeastern South Dakota and eastern 

 Kansas, and in the valley of the upper Missouri river, Montana, south- 

 ward to northern Florida, southern Arkansas and Oklahoma. In 

 these localities it is generally a shrub, rarely reaching a height of more 

 than nine or ten feet. It attains the proportions of a tree only in the bot- 

 tom lands of southern Arkansas, Oklahoma, and in the lower Appala- 

 chian regions. The most favorable habitat of the tree is moist soil 

 along the banks of streams. In the southern and western parts of its 

 range, under favorable conditions of soil and climate, and when isolated 

 from other species, the wahoo tree grows to rather large size and 

 develops a wide flat top of slender spreading branches. 



The largest and most beautiful specimens of wahoo grow in the 

 mountainous regions of West Virginia, eastern Tennessee, and western 

 North Carolina. In these sections it is no unusual thing for a tree of this 

 species to attain a height of sixty or seventy feet and a diameter of 

 twenty or twenty-four inches. It is never found in pure stands but is 

 isolated along the edge of the forest, and thrives best near water courses. 



The tree is known by a variety of names in the different parts of the 

 country. The Indians are said to have called it wahoo. Burning bush, 

 a very popular name, is especially appropriate, as no brighter dash of 

 color is displayed by any tree than the scarlet fruit of this growth, which 

 remains on the branches long after the leaves have fallen, often until the 



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