THE MAGNOLIAS, ETC. 



33 



trifle heart-shaped at the base. This tree bears soli- 

 tary flowers, and fruit about an inch long with a flat- 

 tened and ridged stone. It is 

 found in water or deep swamps, 

 from Virginia and Illinois 

 southward. These three tu- 

 pelos may easily be dis- 

 tinguished apart, 

 by reason of their 

 different fruit and 

 Large Tupelo. flowers ; for in- 



stance, one can 

 not find Nyssa hijiora with more than three flowers 

 on one stem, and in the greatest number of cases it 

 has only two. The single flower or fruit also unmis- 

 takably indicates N. aquatica. 



The persimmon, sometimes called 

 date plum, is distinctively a Southern 

 tree, although it may be found as far 

 north as Long Island or southern Connecticut ; * but 

 only in the South will the tree be seen fully devel- 

 oped ; here it grows, when unobstructed, 40 or 50 

 feet high, with widely spreading branches ; in the 

 forests it attains a height of 100 feet or more. The 

 dark-green leaf is from two to five inches long, rather 



* The specimen which I have sketched grows in Bucks County, 

 Pa., and is over 40 feet in height. 



Persimmon, 



