Handbook of Tee.es of the ISToetheen States axd Canada. 383 



The Silver-bell Tree is generally of small 

 stature, but on the high Alleghany Mountains 

 of North Carolina and Tennessee, where several 

 other trees find inspiration for greatest de- 

 velopment, this one lifts its head to the height 

 of 80 or 90 ft., with straight columnar trunk 

 3 ft. in diameter, but such trees are only 

 found in this favored locality; elsewhere it is 

 a much smaller tree, and is often a large shrub 

 sending up several stems from the ground. 

 When isolated it commonly forms a narrow 

 rounded top of short stout branches. It in- 

 habits rich well-drained wooded slopes and 

 banks of streams, in company with various 

 Oaks, Hickories, Ashes and Magnolias, Sugar 

 Maple, Sorrel-tree, Great Rhododendron, 

 Laurel, Witch Hazel, etc., and in spring, when 

 its branches are fringed with many white bell- 

 shaped flowers, soon after the unfolding of its 

 leaves, it is an object of singular beauty. In- 

 deed, that its ornamental value is generally 

 appreciated is shown by the fact that it is 

 often planted in city parks and on private 

 grounds throughout the Atlantic states. 



Its wood is light, a cubic foot, when abso- 

 lutely dry, weighing 35.07 lbs., soft, fine- 

 grained and suitable for use in turnery, but 

 generally too scarce to be of commercial ira- 

 portance.2 



Leaves oval to obovate-oblong. 4-6 in. long, 

 acute or obtuse at base, mostly acuminate at 

 apex, remotely serrulate, pale tomentose at first, 

 at maturity glabrous dark green above, paler and 

 more or less pubescent beneath. Flowers (March- 

 April) on drooping pedicel.s : corolla slightly 

 lobed, about % in. long ; stamens 10-16 with 

 glabrous filaments ; ovary 4-celled. Pniit ripening 

 in late autumn, 4-winged. 1-2 in. long.' 



1. Syn, Halesia tetraptera Bllia. 



2. A. W., XI, 261. 



3. For genus see p. 4,j4. 



