ILLINOIS TREES: SELECTION, PLANTING, AND CARE 117 



These leaves, clustered toward the ends of the twigs, turn bril- 

 liant red in the autumn. The green male and female flowers usu- 

 ally are produced on separate trees, although some trees bear 

 perfect flowers. JNIale flowers are produced in many-flowered 

 heads. Female flowers are produced in two- to several-flowered 

 clusters. The dark blue, globe- to egg-shaped fruit, ^/o-'^'i inch 

 long, is produced singly or in clusters of two or three on long, 

 slender stems. The single, hard-shelled, light brown seed in each 

 fruit is slightly flattened and has 10-12 longitudinal ridges. The 

 deeply and narrowly fissured, red-tinged, brown bark is formed 

 with a pattern of oblong blocks resembling that of alligator skin. 



Tupelo is resistant to injury by ice and wind and is relatively 

 free of diseases and insect pests. However, in recent years numer- 

 ous branches of a few trees have been killed by Botryosphaeria 

 canker, and a few trees have been killed by Verticillium wilt. The 

 strong, tough, heavy wood of tupelo is neither hard nor durable, 

 and it tends to warp and twist in seasoning. However, the tough, 

 twisted grain makes it useful for veneer, mallets, rollers, wheel 

 hubs, gun stocks, and rough flooring. 



Tupelo gum or cotton gum, with its narrow, oblong crown 

 of small, spreading branches, reaches a height of 80-100 feet. In 

 Illinois it is confined to the cypress swamps in eight counties in 

 the southern tip of the state and Crawford, Richland, and Wa- 

 bash counties. The shiny, firm, alternate leaves, 5-7 inches long 

 and 2-4 inches wide, are dark green above, paler and hairy be- 

 neath, and may have slightly toothed margins. Male and female 

 flowers are produced separately on the same tree, the male flow- 

 ers being in dense clusters and the larger, greenish, female flow- 

 ers solitary. The conspicuously dotted, dark purple, datelike 

 fruit, about 1 inch long, has a thick, tough skin and contains a 

 flattened seed with ten sharp, winglike ridges. The dark brown, 

 scale-roughened bark is conspicuously furrowed. The brown to 

 nearly white wood is soft, light, weak and difficult to season. 

 However, it is more easily worked than that of tupelo. It is used 

 for boxes, crates, flooring, and interior finishing. 



Walnuf 



Black walnut (Jicglans nigra) and butternut or white wal- 

 nut (J. cmerea) are native woodland trees which grow in rich 

 bottomlands and on moist, fertile hillsides throughout the state. 

 They are slow-growing trees which produce sparse shade and are 

 used only sparingly in ornamental plantings. 



