282 



Remarks. — The wooil is tougher but in most qualities is inferior 

 to white ash and cannot be used for handles. The layers of growth 

 separate easily which enables the wood to be separated into thin 

 strips. This fact was known to the Indians who used this wood for 

 making baskets. This use was continued by the white man and in 

 addition it was a favorite wood for making hoops, and in many sections 

 it is known as the "hoop ash." The wood has many uses such as for 

 baskets, splint Ijoxes, butter tubs, vehicle stock, interior finish, fur- 

 niture, etc. The black burls of the trunk are much sought for ])y veneer 

 manufacturers. 



2. ADELIA. 



Adelia acuminala ^lichaux. Pond Brush. Crooked Brush. 

 Plate 131. Small trees, or shrub like, with gray smooth bark, liecoming 

 rough or fissured on large trees, the ridges short and l)roken; branch- 

 lets numerous and somewhat spiny; twigs glabrous; leaves opposite 

 on petioles aliout 1 cm. long, ovate to elliptic-ovate, 4-11 cm. long, 

 with a long narrow base, long acuminate at the apex, margins entire 

 near the base, the remainder more or less coarsely serrated with short 

 rounded teeth, rarely entire, smooth above and beneath; flowers 

 appear last of ^^lai'ch to the first of May, the staminate in small sessile 

 clusters along the liranchlets, the pistillate in short panicles; fruit 

 a dark jiurple drupe, olilong, aljout 15 mm. long; stone with many lon- 

 gitudinal riljs. 



Distribution. — Southwestern Indiana and southern Illinois south to 

 northern Florida and Texas. In Indiana it has been found only in 

 Knox, Gibson, Posej- and Perry Counties. It grows on the low borders 

 of river sloughs, swamps and river banks. It is very tolerant of shade 

 and may be found growing under larger trees. It usually forms dense 

 thickets on the bank that sim'ounds standing water and is usually 

 associated with button-bush. A straight specimen is rarely seen be- 

 cause the area whei-e it grows overflows each winter, and the small trees 

 are usually covered more or less with debris, and then the following 

 season the side branches assume a vertical growth. The top may be re- 

 leased by the next inundation, and then other branches may assume 

 leadership, and so on vmtil the top is a mass of branches growing in 

 several directions. The specimens found in Perry Countj^ grew on the 

 low bank of the Ohio River about i] miles east of Cannelton. The 

 sjiecies is quite local in the area where it is found. It may Ijorder one 

 river slough, and be entirel}- absent from another nearby. 



Remarks. — Of no economic use. In l)ooks it is called "swamp 

 privet" but in the area where it grows it is not known by that name. 



