116 TREES 



dens it is known as the "stagbush." Its fruit turns dark 

 when dead ripe, and persists well into the winter. In the 

 wilds, this little viburnum is found from southern New 

 England to Michigan, and south to Georgia and Texas. 



THE MOUNTAIN ASHES 



The handsome foliage and showy flower clusters make 

 the mountain ashes a favorite gi'oup of little trees for 

 border shrubberies and other ornamental planting. The 

 foliage is almost fern-like in delicacy and it spreads in a 

 whorl below the flower clusters in spring and the scarlet 

 berry clusters in autumn. Far into the winter after the 

 foliage has dropped the berries persist, supplying the birds 

 with food, especially in snowj^ winters, when their need is 

 greatest, and brightening the dull thickets of bare twigs 

 on dreary days. 



Eastern Mountain Ash 



Sorbus Americana^ Marsh. 



The common eastern mountain ash reaches thirty feet 

 in height — a slender, pyramidal tree, with spreading 

 branches and delicate leaves of from thirteen to seventeen 

 leaflets. The flat-topped cluster of creamy white flowers 

 (see illustration, page 135) appears in May and June, above 

 the dark yellow-green foliage; and the scarlet berries, ripe 

 in September when the leaves have turned yellow, may 

 persist until spring. Along the borders of swamps and 

 climbing rocky bluffs, often scattered in plum thickets, 

 these trees are handsome at any season. Along the 

 mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina home reme- 



