CHAPTER LVIII : THE SILVER BELL TREE AND 

 THE SWEET LEAF 



Family Styrace/E 



There are seven genera in the storax family, and few species, 

 scattered over the warmer sections of the north temperate zone. 

 Benzoin and storax, valuable balsams of commerce, are obtained 

 from two species, one in the Molucca Islands, the other in Asia 

 Minor and Europe. 



I. Genus MOHRODENDRON, Britt. 



Small trees with slender, pithy, pubescent branchlets and 

 no terminal buds. Leaves simple, alternate, deciduous. Flowers 

 white, bell-shaped, conspicuous. Fruit corky, 2 to 4-winged, 

 2 to 4-celled, with I seed in each cell. 



KEY TO SPECIES 



A. Fruit 2-winged; corolla deeply lobed. 



{M. dipterum) snowdrop tree 

 AA. Fruit 4-winged; corolla shallowly lobed. 



(M. ieiraptera) silver bell tree 



Silver Bell Tree, Snowdrop Tree (Mohrodendron ieirap- 

 tera, Britt.) — Tree or shrub to 80 feet high, with erect branches 

 and narrow head. Bark scaly, brown, with shallow furrows and 

 broad ridges, new shoots pubescent; twigs smooth. IVood pale 

 brownish, soft, light, close. Buds hairy, small, reddish, blunt. 

 Leaves ovate, oblong, acuminate entire, 2 to 4 inches long, dark 

 green above, paler and stellate pubescent beneath, pale yellow in 

 fall. Flowers in May, white, bell shaped, in lateral clusters of 2 to 

 4, perfect; stamens 8 to 16, pistil 2 to 4-celled, 4 ovules in each 

 cell. Fruit 4-winged, dry, oblong drupe. Preferred habitat, well- 

 drained, rich soil in sheltered situations. Distribution, mountains 

 of West Virginia to Illinois; south to Florida, northern Alabama 



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