118 FOREST TREES. 
united; fertile flowers in a short, terminal catkin, 
with deciduous bracts, a small membrane enclosing 
each flower; nut, oblong, included in a large, bladder- 
like membrane. 
Ostrya Virginica—Iron Wood. 
The Iron Wood belongs to the northern parts of 
the United States and the British Provinces. It 
sometimes, though rarely, grows to the height of 
forty feet. The wood is heavy, compact and fine- 
grained. It is used for beetles, mallets, cogs of mill 
wheels, etc. Its slow growth and inferior size render 
it ineligible for culture as a timber tree. As an orna- 
mental tree it is pretty, with light, graceful spray. 
It is propagated by seed sown in spring. 
OXYDENDRUM. 
Natural Order, Ericacee. 
Calyx without bractlets, of five almost distinct 
sepals; valvate in the bud; corolla, ovate, five- 
toothed; stamens, ten; anthers, fixed near the base, 
linear, awnless, the cells tapering upwards and open- 
ing by a long chink; pod, oblong, pyramidal, five- 
celled, five-valved; seeds, all ascending, slender. 
Oxydendrum arboreum—Sorrel Tree. 
This tree is found from Ohio and Pennsylvania, 
southward, principally along the Alleghany moun- 
tains. It grows to the height of from forty to sixty 
feet. It begins to produce flowers when only five or 
six feet high. They are in terminal panicles, and 
