Handbook of Trees of the jSToBTiiERisr States and Canada. 213 



This favorite tree in the forests of the south 

 Atlantic and Uulf states attains the height of 

 ,tiO or 70 ft., with trunk 2-3 ft. in diameter 

 covered with a brownish gray bark, which may 

 be universally smooth or beset with scattered 

 boss-like excrescences. \\'hen growing apart 

 from other trees its habit is to form an oblong 

 or rounded sliapely top. It grows in the low 

 moist soil of swamps and about the borders of 

 Pine-barren ponds, associated with the Lob- 

 lolly and Red Bays, Wild Olive, Evergreen 

 Magnolia, Holly, Yaupon, Red Maple, etc. 

 Farther northward it is a much smaller tree, 

 and, at the extreme northern limit of its range, 

 only a shrub. 



Such is its deserved popularity for orna- 

 mental planting that its handsome party-colored 

 leaves are familiar objects in almost every 

 American city park, where the climate will 

 permit, and when it fills the air in early sum- 

 mer with the delicious fragrance of its pure 

 white flowers it is sure to attract admiration 

 from every visitor. 



The light soft wood, which when absolutely 



dry weighs 31.38 pounds to the cubic foot, is 



occasionally used in the manufacture of 



wooden-ware, etc.i 



Leaves scattered on the branchlets, oblong to 

 oval, 3-fi in. long, obtuse or acute at botb ends, 

 lustrous dark green above, whitish pubescent be- 

 neath, thick, usually concave, and in the north 

 deciduous in the autumn, but in the south per- 

 sisting until spring. Floirers (May and .Tune) 

 creamy white, very fragrant, cup-shaped, about 

 2 in. across ; sepals obtuse, spreading ; petals 

 short, broad, concave. Fruit irregular oblong. 

 dark red, glabrous, from 1^/4-2 in. long; seed 

 about y^ in. long, compressed. 



1. A. W., Ill, 51. 



^; I 



