THE GUM TREES 97 



The Cotton Gum 



A^. aquaticay Marsh. 



The cotton gum is draped in cottony white down as the 

 new shoots start and the leaves unfold in spring. In mid- 

 summer this down persists in the leaf-linings, lightening the 

 dark green of the tree-tops. The dark blue fruits of this 

 species have no culinary value. The wood is used for 

 crating material. The tree reaches its maximum height — 

 one hundred feet — in the cypress swamps of Louisiana 

 and Texas, its abundant, corky roots adapting it to its 

 habitat. 



The Sweet Gum 



Liquidamher styracifliia, Linn. 



The sweet gum is a tall tree with a straight trunk, four to 

 five feet in diameter, with slender branches covered with 

 corky bark thrown out in wing-like ridges. At first the 

 head is regular and pyramidal, but in old age it becomes 

 irregularly oblong and comparatively narrow. The bark 

 is reddish brown, deeply furrowed between rough scaly 

 plates, marked by hard, warty excrescences. 



The leaves are lobed like a maple's, but more regularly, 

 so as to form a five-pointed star. Brilliant green in sum- 

 mer, they become streaked with crimson and yellow. 

 Wherever these gum trees grow, the autumn landscape is 

 painted with the changeful splendor of the most gorgeous 

 sunset. "The tree is not a flame, it is a conflagration!^^ 

 Often along a country road the rail fence is hidden by an 

 undergrowth of young gum trees. Their polished star 



