300 ECONOMIC BOTANY OF ALABAMA 



roadsides, and it must have been very scarce before the country 

 was settled It appears as if indigenous in a few places, though, 

 particularly on limestone in the Tennessee Valley, and on the 

 banks of the Warrior River in the northern part of Jefferson 

 County. Trees of this species are usually solitary, and located in 

 places pretty well protected from fire ; but, as in the case of the 

 sassafras, one often finds shrubby immature specimens growing 

 abundantly in old fields, and also in pine lands that are burned 

 over occasionally. 



Although the persimmon is very common, it makes up a very 

 small fraction of the total stand of timber in the state. (It seems 

 to be less abundant in Alabama than in Georgia, though that 

 would be hard to prove statistically.) It is apparently rare in re- 

 gions lA, 2A, 14 and 15, and commonest in 3, 6A and lOW. 



SAPOTACEAE. Sapodilla Family. 



Includes about 50 genera and 425 species of woody plants, 

 mostly tropical, some of them important for fruit or other prod- 

 ucts. Represented in the United States only by the following 

 genus, and one or two others which do not range north of Florida. 



BUMELIA, S\vartz. (Seems to have no common name in 

 general use.) 



Bumelia lanuginosa (Mx.) Pers. 



A small deciduous tree, with leaning or crooked trunk less 

 than a foot in diameter, and rather hard and tough wood. Flowers 

 and fruit not often seen. According to Prof. Sargent, the tree, 

 when wounded, exudes a sticky gum, and the wood is well suited 

 for cabinet-making. 



Grows in sandy hammocks and other dry places not subject to 

 fire. 



IB. (Near?) Russellville (Mohr; perhaps the next species?). 



5. Cliffs on Coosa River about seven miles above Wetumpka, El- 

 more County. 



7. Along Catoma Creek, Montgomery County. Dallas County (Cocks). 

 Near House Bluff, Autauga County. 



lOE. In the "pocosin," Pike County. Also in Coffee County. 



13 (?). Mobile County (Mohr). 



