108 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England ; 

 adapted to a great variety of soils, but prefers a stony, well- 

 drained loam or gravel. Its irregular masses of foliage, which 

 color so brilliantly in the fall, make it an extremely interest- 

 ing tree in plantations, but it has always been rare in nurseries 

 and difficult to transplant ; suckers, however, can be moved 

 readily. Propagated easily from seed. 



PLATE LIV. SASSAFRAS OFFICINAL*:. 



1. Winter buds. 4. Branch with fertile flowers. 



2. Branch with sterile flowers. ~>. Fertile flower. 



3. Sterile flower. (>. Fruiting branch. 



HAMAMELIDACE.E. WITCH HAZEL FAMILY 



Liquidambar Styraciflua, L. 



SWEET GUM. 



Habitat and Range. Low, wet soil, swamps, moist woods. 



Connecticut, restricted to the southwest corner of the 

 state, not far from the seacoast ; Darien to Five Mile river, 

 probably the northeastern limit of its natural growth. 



South to Florida ; west to Missouri and Texas. 



Habit. Tree 40-60 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 10 

 inches to 2 feet, attaining a height of 150 feet and a diameter 

 of 3-5 feet in the Ohio and Mississippi valleys ; trunk tall 

 and straight ; branches rather small for the diameter and 

 height of the tree, the lower mostly horizontal or declining ; 

 branchlets beset with numerous short, rather stout, curved 

 twigs ; head wide-spreading, ovoid or narrow-pyramidal, sym- 

 metrical ; conspicuous in summer by its deep green, shining 

 foliage, in autumn by the splendor of its coloring, and in win- 

 ter by the long-stemmed, globular fruit, which does not fall 

 till spring. 



Bark. Trunk gray or .grayish-brown, in old trees deeply 

 furrowed and broken up into rather small, thickish, loose 

 scales ; branches brown gray ; branchlets with or without 



