296 The Magnolias: The Iron- Wood: The Mesquit. 



1211. The AuKiCLE-LEAVED Magnoua (Magnolia aurusuMa) Las 

 also large broad leaves, eight to twelve inches long, with an ear- 

 shaped appendage at their base, deciduous and smooth upon both 

 sides. It grows to a height of 30 to 40 feet in the mountains of the 

 Southern States, and bears large fragrant white flowers. 



1212. The magnolias do not bear transplanting well, and can be 

 best started in pots, carefully removing all the soil with the roots 

 when it is placed in the ground. 



1213. The Prtde-OF-India (Melia AzedaracK). This is a decidu- 

 ous tree, introduced from Asia, but now common as a shade tree 

 from cultivation in the Southern States. It grows to forty or fifty 

 feet in height and often three feet in diameter. 



1214. The Iron-wood (Genus Ostrya.) Of this genus there are 

 but two species, and these are scarcely distinct. One is found in 

 the Old World and one in the New. Our iron-wood (0. Virginica) 

 does not grow to a large size, nor does it occur in groves by itself, 

 but scattered here and there among other hard woods. Its bark 

 is thin, brown, and rough, and its Avood unusually solid and strong. 

 It is not often cultivated for ornament, but grows very weU when a 

 little sheltered by other trees. 



1215. The iron-wood of the Western Territory is of a different 

 genus (Olneya tesota), and is of considerable value for its wood. 



1216. The Soreel-Tree or Sourwood (Oxydetidrum arboreum). 

 This is a tree growing in fertile woods in Western Pennsylvania, in 

 Ohio, and along the Allegheny range southward into the Southern 

 States. It grows to a hight of 15 to 40 feet, and derives its name 

 from its acid foliage. 



1217. Mesquit (Prosopis glandulosa). This is one of the legu- 

 minous family that thrives in the southern portion of the territories, 

 in the hot dry valleys, and on the Mesas. It grows to a foot in di- 

 ameter, and to thirty feet or more in height. The wood is hard and 

 durable, and the fruit, a kind of bean, is eaten by animals. In 

 Western Texas, a gum is collected from this tree much resembling 

 gum-arabic. 



1218. The Screw-Pod Mesquit (Prosopis pvbeseens). This is 

 smaller-and less common than the preceding, but of similar qualities. 



1219. The Buckthorn (Rhammis cathartieus). This is a Eu- 



