xxii INTRODUCTION 



which are based on fact and are helpful to learners. Bot- 

 anists have done this, too. Bark gives the names to shag- 

 bark hickor}^ striped maple, and naked wood. The color 

 names white birch, black locust, blue beech. Wood names 

 red oak, yellow-wood, and white-heart hickory. The tex- 

 ture names rock elm, punk oak, and soft pine. The uses 

 name post oak, canoe birch, and lodge-pole pine. 



The tree habit is described by dwarf juniper and weeping 

 spruce. The habitat by swamp maple, desert willow, and 

 seaside alder. The range by California white oak and 

 Georgia pine. Sap is characterized in sugar maple, sweet 

 gum, balsam fir, and sweet birch. Twigs are indicated in 

 clammy locust, cotton gum, winged elm. Leaf hnings are 

 referred to in silver maple, white poplar, and white bass- 

 wood. Color of fohage, in gray pine, blue oak, and golden 

 ^, Shape of leaves, in heart-leaved cucumber tree and 

 ear-leaved umbrella. Resemblance of leaves to other 

 species, in willow oak and parsley haw. The flowers of 

 trees give names to tulip tree, silver-bell tree, and fringe 

 tree. The fruit is described in big-cone pine, butternut, 

 mossy-cup oak, and mock orange. 



Many trees retain their classical names, which have be- 

 come the generic botanical ones, as acacia, ailanthus, and 

 viburnum. Others modify these slightly, as pine from 

 Finns, and poplar from Populus. The number of local 

 names a species has depends upon the notice it attracts and 

 the range it has. The loblolly pine, important as a lumber 

 tree, extends along the coast from New Jersey to Texas. 

 It has twenty-two nicknames. 



The scientific name is for use when accurate designation 

 of a species is required; the common name for ordinary 

 speech. "What a beautiful Quercus alba!^' sounds very 



