48 TIMBER tKEES OF NORTH CAROLINA. 



and dark brown seal}' bark, reaching a height of 90 and a diam- 

 eter of 4 feet, or towards its southern or southwestern limit 

 reduced to a low shrub. 



It grows in deep fertile soil from Pennsylvania southward along 

 the Alleghanies to northern Georgia and Alabama, and westward 

 to southern Iowa and Indian Territory and western Texas, reach- 

 ing its greatest development in the Alleghany mountains of Ten- 

 nessee and North Carolina. 



In this State it occurs as a tree in the mountains, and in the 

 Piedmont plateau, where it is reduced to a mere shrub. 



Trees growing in the open produce seed nearly every year; 

 forest trees less frequently. Seedlings are common except in deep 

 shade, especially in the Piedmont plateau. Young trees grow 

 rapidly if sufficiently exposed to the light. 



The buckeye stem-borers, Steganoptycha claypoleana, Fernald, 

 and Proteoteras fesculana, Riley, penetrate the leaf-stems and 

 twigs. Trees over 2 feet in diameter, particularly in very damp 

 situations, are apt to be hollow or affected with dry rot. 



The leaves are composed of 5 to 7 elliptical, pointed, sharply 

 toothed leaflets. The yellowish flowers appear late in spring in 

 large erect clusters, and the fruit is 2 or 3 inches long, with the 

 reddish-brown seeds Ij to 2 inches broad. The winter-buds are 

 large and scaly. 



The wood is light, soft, compact, and difticult to split; creamy- 

 white in color; the sapwood hardly distinguishable. Although 

 one of the commonest trees in the high mountains, it has but few 

 uses; the softness of the wood and the fact that it decays rapidly 

 when exposed to the weather or in contact with the soil, excludes 

 it from construction. It is sometimes used with linden for ceil- 

 ing and other interior work. 



Acer spicatum, Lamarck. 



(mountain maple, swamp dogwood.) 



A small bushy tree, with slender upright branches and reddish- 

 brown bark, reaching a height of 30 feet and a diameter of 8. 

 inches. 



