220 PRACTICAL FORESTRY. 



variable in size and shape on the same tree. Fruit blue, on thick 

 red petioles. The pulp thin, but of a succulent, rather spicy fla- 

 vor, greedily eaten when ripe by birds. The bark, and especially 

 that on the roots strongly aromatic, and formerly was in high 

 repute as a medicine for various diseases. It is still in some 

 demand, as the bark of the roots is a powerful stimulant ; but 

 the oil distilled from the roots is now of more commercial im- 

 portance, it being extensively used in imparting flavor to candies 

 and similar articles. A rather handsome tree, fifty to sixty feet 

 high in favorable soils, with a stem two feet in diameter. Wood 

 reddish in very old trees, moderately hard, easily worked, and 

 considered very durable. Bark on young twigs very smooth, 

 and of a deep green color, but on older branches and stems 

 rough, of a grayish color, and deeply furrowed. The roots pro- 

 duce suckers in great abundance, and these are not readily de- 

 stroyed as their roots penetrate the soil to a great depth. Com- 

 mon on light soils, river banks, and in rocky woods, from 

 Canada to Florida, and west to Texas. 



SCH^FFERIA, Jacq. Crab Wood. 



A genus of the Celastracece or Staff -tree Family, with ever- 

 green alternate leaves, and dioecious flowers ; very small, green- 

 ish, and in axillary clusters. The one species found in the 

 United States has been described under three different names, 

 viz. S. completa, Swartz, and S. buxifolia, Nutt., but now 

 recognized as the 



Schsefferia frntescens, Jacq. Crab Wood, Jamaica Boxwood. 

 Leaves obovate-oblong, entire, acute or obtuse, an inch and a 

 half long. Flowers three to five in a cluster, the slender stalks 

 arising from a wart-like peduncle. Fruit a two-celled, two- 

 seeded drupe. A small tree, with a hard, coarse-grained wood. 

 Southern Florida, and in the West Indies. 



A closely allied tree, the Schcepfia arboreseens, E. and S., 

 inhabiting the West Indies, is reported to have been found in 

 Southern Florida. It is, however, a very small tree of not much 

 importance, although interesting to the botanist. 



SEBASTIAKIA, Muell. PoiSOH Wood. 



Tropical or sub-tropical trees and shrubs, with milky juice ; 

 alternate, serrate or crenate leaves. Flowers dioecious or monoe- 

 cious without petals. 



Sebastiania Ineida, Muell. Shining-Leaved Poison Wood. 



