160 TREES OF NEW ENGLAND. 



obscurely toothed, or wavy-margined above the center ; apex 

 more or less abruptly acute ; base acutish ; firm, smooth, 

 finely sub-veined ; stem short, flat, grooved, minutely ciliate, 

 at least when young ; stipules none. 



Inflorescence. May or early June. Appearing with the 

 leaves in axillary clusters of small greenish flowers, sterile 

 and fertile usually on separate trees, sometimes on the same 

 tree, sterile flowers in simple or compound clusters; calyx 

 minutely 5-parted, petals 5, small or wanting ; stamens 5-12, 

 inserted on the outside of a disk ; pistil none : fertile flowers 

 larger, solitary, or several sessile in a bracted cluster ; petals 5, 

 small or wanting ; calyx minutely 5-toothed. 



Fruit. Drupes 1-several, ovoid, blue black, about \ inch 

 long, sour : stone striated lengthwise. 



Horticultural Value. Hardy throughout New England ; 

 adapts itself readily to most situations but prefers deep soil 

 near water. Seldom offered in nurseries and difficult to 

 transplant unless frequently root-pruned or moved ; collected 

 plants do not thrive well ; seedlings are raised with little 

 difficulty. Few trees are of greater ornamental value. 



PLATE LXXXI. NYSSA SYLVATICA. 



1. Winter buds. 



2. Branch with sterile flowers. 

 3-4. Sterile flowers. 



5. Branch with fertile flowers. 



6. Fertile flower. 



7. Fruiting branch. 





EBONY FAMILY. 

 Diospyros Virginiana, L. 



Persimmon. 



Habitat and Range. Rhode Island, occasional but doubt- 

 fully native ; Connecticut, at Lighthouse Point, New Haven, 

 near the East Haven boundary line, there is a grove con- 

 sisting of about one hundred twenty -five small trees not more 

 than a hundred feet from the water's edge, in sandy soil just 



