THE SYCAMORES 93 



north as Boston, where it blooms profusely and is much 

 admired for both flowers and glossy foliage through the 

 late summer. 



Oregon Alder 



A. Oregona, Nutt. 



The Oregon or red alder reaches eighty feet in height and 

 its trunk may exceed three feet in diameter. This Western 

 tree exceeds the Old World alder in size. The smooth, 

 pale-gray bark reminds us of the beech and sets this tree 

 apart from the white alder whose bark is brown and deeply 

 furrowed. The flowers and cone fruits are very large. 

 The ovate leaves are cut-toothed and often lobed. This is 

 the alder of the West Coast, largest where it comes down 

 to the sea near the shores of Puget Sound, but climbing the 

 mountains and canyon sides wherever there is water, from 

 Sitka to Santa Barbara. The reddish brown wood is 

 light, easily worked, and beautifully satiny when polished. 

 In Washington and Oregon it is largely used in the manu- 

 facture of furniture. The Indian dug-outs are made of the 

 butts of large trees. 



THE SYCAINIORES, OR BUTTOmVOOD? 



The Button wood 



Platanus occidentallsy Linn. 



Our eastern buttonwood is a tree to which, m America, 

 we supply the name sycamore. Its EuDopoan counter- 

 part is the plane tree of the Old World. It is one of the 

 easiest trees to recognize, for its most prominent trait Ls 



