AMERICAN FOREST TREES 603 



crown, and present an appearance that is seldom surpassed for beauty 

 in the forests of this country. 



The fruit is peculiar and is not particularly graceful. It has too 

 much the appearance of the load carried by a well-fruited vine of hops. 

 It ripens late in autumn and persists during most of the winter. There 

 is nothing in its color, shape, or taste to tempt birds or other creatures to 

 make food of it, though, under stress of circumstances, they may some- 

 tunes do so. The fruit is two inches or less in length and an inch wide, 

 and has four wings, which seem to be practically useless for flight. The 

 seed is about half an inch long. 



The bark of the trunk is bright red-brown and about half an inch 

 thick, with broad ridges which separate on the surface into thin papery 

 scales. The young branches wear an early coat of thick, pale wool or 

 hairs, light, reddish-brown during the first summer, but later changing 

 to an orange color. 



The botanical range of the species is extensive, though the tree- 

 form is confined to a few counties among the southern Appalachian 

 mountains. The northern limit of its range is in West Virginia where it 

 is so scarce that many a woodsman never recognizes it. Unless it is 

 caught while in the full glory of its bloom, it attracts no attention. It is 

 not there a tree, but a shrub, hidden away among other growth, along 

 mountain streams or on slopes where the soil is fertile. The blooming 

 shrub might, at a distance, be mistaken for a dogwood in full blossom, 

 but a closer inspection corrects the mistake. 



It is true of this species as of many others that the range has 

 been greatly extended by planting. The bell-like white flowers early 

 drew attention of nurserymen who were on the lookout for trees for 

 ornamental planting. It was carried to Europe long ago, and graces 

 many a yard and park in the central and northern countries of that 

 continent. It now grows and thrives in the United States six hundred 

 miles northeast of its natural range, where it endures the winters of 

 eastern Massachusetts, blooms as bounteously as in its native haunts 

 among the shaded streams of the Alleghany mountains. 



SNOWDROP TREE (Mohrodendron dipterum) is a near relative of the 

 silverbell tree, and looks much like it, except that it is smaller, has larger 

 leaves, and the flowers are creamy-white. The two occupy the same 

 territory in part of their ranges, but they differ in one respect. The 

 silverbell tree grows with great luxuriance among the mountains while 

 the snowdrop tree keeps to the low country and is seldom or never found 

 growing naturally at any considerable elevation. It prefers swamps or 

 damp situations near the coast. While the silverbell tree's range in- 

 cludes West Virginia, that of the snowdrop extends no farther north than 



