TREES OF NORTH AMERICA 



Flowers about \' long, on glabrous or densely or slightly villose pedicels '-f in length, 

 from the axils of ovate caducous serrate glabrous or pubescent bracts rounded at apex, in 

 crowded fascicles ; calyx obconic, glabrous, slightly pubescent or hoary-tomentose (var. mollis 

 Lange), the lobes ciliate; corolla narrowed below into a short tube, f across, sometimes 

 faintly tinged with rose, rarely divided nearly to the base (var. dialypetala Schn.); sta- 

 mens 10-16; filaments villose with occasional white hairs; ovary 4-celled. Fruit oblong to 

 oblong-obovate, 4-winged, 1^' long, -I'-f in diameter; stone ellipsoid to slightly obovoid, 

 narrowed below into a short stipe and above into the slender apex terminating in the 

 elongated persistent style, slightly angled, \'-\' long, usually 1-setded by abortion; seed 

 rounded at the narrow ends, \'-\' long. 



A round-headed tree, rarely 40 high, with a short trunk often divided near the ground 

 into several spreading stems, and 12'-18' in diameter, small branches, and slender branch- 

 lets glabrous or densely pubescent early in the season, becoming slightly pubescent or 

 nearly glabrous and orange-brown, and marked by large obcordate leaf-scars during their 

 first winter and dark red-brown the following year; more often a shrub with wide-spreading 

 stems. Winter-buds ellipsoid to ovoid, f ' long, with thick broad-ovate dark red acute 

 puberulous scales rounded on the back, those of the inner rows beco: ling strap-shaped, 

 bright yellow and sometimes \' long. Bark of the trunk \' thick, slightly ridged, reddish 

 brown, separating into thin closely appressed scales. Wood light., soft, close-grained, light 

 brown with thick lighter-colored sapwood. 



Distribution. Wooded slopes and the banks of streams, southern West Virginia (Fay- 

 ette and Summers Counties) ; Piedmont region of North and South Carolina, ascending to 

 altitudes of 2000', through central Georgia to western Florida, and through Alabama 

 south to Dallas and Mount Vernon Counties; the var. mollis with the type and the more 

 common form in western Florida southward to Suwanee County. A seedling shrubby 

 Halesia (var. Meehanii PerLins) with thicker smaller darker green rugose leaves, smaller 

 cup-shaped flowers on shorter pedicels, appeared many years ago in the Meehan Nurseries 

 at Germantown, Pennsylvania, and is possibly a hybrid but of obscure origin. 



Often cultivated in the eastern United States, in California and in western and central 

 Europe; hardy as far north as eastern Massachusetts. 



2. Halesia monticola Sarg. 



Leaves elliptic to oblong-obovate, abruptly acuminate at apex, cuneate or occasionally 

 rounded at base, remotely dentate with minute blunt teeth, covered above when they un- 

 fold with short white hairs and below with thick hoary tomentum, half-grown and pubes- 

 cent on the midrib below when the flowers open at the end of May, and at maturity thin, 

 dark dull green on the upper surface, pale on the lower surface, glabrous w r ith the exception 

 of a few hairs on the lower side of the slender midrib and primary veins, 8'-ll' long and 

 1|'-2|' wide ; turning yellow in the autumn before falling; petioles slender, viilose-pubescent 

 when they first appear, soon glabrous, ^'-f ' in length. Flowers 2' long on pedicels !'-!' in 

 length, from the axils of obovate or elliptic acute pubescent bracts i'-f long and \' wide; 

 calyx obconic, glabrous or slightly viilose-pubescent; corolla 1' in diameter, contracted be- 

 low into a short limb; stamens 10-16; filaments slightly villose toward the base, ovary 

 4-celled. Fruit oblong-obovoid, cuneate at base, 4-vinged, If '-2' long, 1' in diameter; 

 stone ovoid-ellipsoid, abruptly narrowed oelcw into a short stipe, gradually narrowed above 

 into the long apex, prominently angled about li'-T" in length. 



A tree, often 80-90 high, with a trunk 3 in diameter and free of branches for 50-60, 

 comparatively small spreading and erect branches forming a round-topped head and slen- 

 der branchlets covered when they first appear with pale hairs, soon glabrous, lustrous, light 

 red-brown or orange-brown during their first winter and dark red-brown in their second 

 year. Winter-buds ovoid to ellipsoid, acuminate, much compressed, gibbous on the back, 

 the outer scales thick, slightly keeled on the back, lustrous, bright red, f ' long. Bark of 

 the trunk thick, separating freely into long broad loosely attached red-brown plates |'-f ' 

 thick. 



