AMERICAN FOREST TREES 501 



cernible. The wood contains many very small pores. The bark is 

 said to possess some value for medicinal purposes. No special uses for 

 the wood have been reported, and it is too scarce to be of much value. 

 The tree's principal importance is as an ornament, and it shows well in 

 winter borders where the bright colors of the seeds are exposed. It is 

 planted both in this country and in Europe. The plantings seldom 

 or never reach tree size. 



FLORIDA BOXWOOD (Schafferia frulescens) is of the same family as 

 wahoo but of another genus, and is quite a different kind of tree. The 

 generic name is in honor of Jakob Christian Schaeffer, a distinguished 

 German naturalist who died in 1790. Two species of this tree occur in 

 the United States, one the Florida boxwood, the other a small, shrubby 

 growth in the dry regions of western Texas and northern Mexico. 

 Florida boxwood is a West Indies tree which flourishes in the Bahamas 

 and southward along the other islands to Venezuela. It has gained a 

 foothold on the islands of southern Florida where it has found conditions 

 favorable and it grows to a height of thirty or forty feet, and reaches a 

 trunk diameter of ten inches, but such are trees of the largest size. The 

 leaves are bright yellow-green, about two inches long, and one or less in 

 width. They appear in Florida in April and persist a full year, until the 

 foliage of the succeeding crop displaces them. The flowers which are 

 small and inconspicuous, open about the same time as the leaves. The 

 fruit is a scarlet berry which ripens in November, and has a decidedly 

 disagreeable flavor. The bark is very thin. 



When sound wood in sufficiently large pieces is obtainable it is 

 valuable for a number of purposes, but chiefly as a substitute for Turkish 

 boxwood as engraving blocks. The trees are always small in Florida, 

 which is the only place in the United States where they occur, and the 

 largest are often hollow or otherwise defective. The wood weighs 48.27 

 pounds per cubic foot, thoroughly dry, which is about two pounds 

 heavier than white oak. It is rich in ashes, having about four times as 

 much as white oak. The color of the heartwood is a bright, clear yellow 

 to which is due the name yellow-wood occasionally applied to the tree in 

 the region where it grows, as well as in markets where it is sold. This 

 is not the tree known in commerce as West Indies boxwood, though it 

 may be an occasional substitute. It is said that Florida boxwood was 

 formerly much more abundant in this country than it is now. It was 

 lumbered for the European market at about the same time that the 

 south of Florida was stripped of its mahogany. It is suitable for many 

 small articles where a hard, even-grained wood is wanted. 



IRONWOOD (Cyrilla racemiflora) ranges from the coast region of 

 North Carolina to Florida, and west near the coast to Texas. It is 



