FOKEST TREES. 



165 



wood, warping badly when sawn into boards or planks. It de- 

 cays rapidly when exposed to the weather, and is of very little 

 value for fuel. Although this is not a valuable timber tree, it 

 is well worth cultivating for ornament. A large tree, sixty to 

 eighty feet high, with a very straight stem. More abundant in 

 the Eastern and Southern States than in the West. Native of 

 New England and southward to Central America. Varieties of 

 this species appear to he quite rare, and I do not now call to 

 mind any that have been disseminated by our nurserymen. 

 The late Joseph Longworth, of Cincinnati, Ohio, found a curi- 



Fig. 43. — lonqwobth's liqoidambar. 



ous variety several years ago growing in the suburbs of that 

 city, and transplanted it to his grounds. The peculiarity of 

 this variety was in the form of the leaves, as shown in fig. 43, 

 and instead of being five-pointed, star-shaped as usual in the 

 species, they have only three prominent points with one or two 

 smaller ones. I think that this variety was first described by 

 the editor of the American Agriculturist ia 1868, who also sug- 

 gested that it should bear the name of L. Longworthii. 



