ST YRACACEA—STORAX FAMILY 
SILVERBELL-TREE 
Mohrodéndron carolinum. Halesia tetrdptera. 
A tree sometimes eighty orninety feet in height, with a tall straight 
trunk, short stout branches which form a narrow head ; usually much 
smaller, often in the north a shrub with stout spreading stems. 
Roots are fibrous. Ranges from the mountains of West Virginia 
southward to northern Alabama and Florida, westward to southern 
Illinois and Arkansas and eastern Texas. 
Bark, —Red brown, with broad ridges, and surface scaly. Branch- 
lets slender, terete, at first coated with pale tomentum, later become 
reddish brown sometimes glaucous. In the second year the bark 
darkens and begins to show pale longitudinal fissures. 
Wood.—Light brown, sapwood paler brown; light, soft, close- 
grained. Sp. gr., 0.5628; weight of cu. ft., 35.07 lbs. 
Winter Buds.—Dark red, small, obtuse, hairy. Outer scales 
drop when spring growth begins; inner scales lengthen with the 
growing shoot, become strap-shaped, bright yellow and sometimes 
half an inch long. Flower-buds ovate, obtuse. 
Leaves.—Alternate, simple, exstipulate, four to six inches long, 
two to three wide, oval or ovate-oblong, wedge-shaped or rounded 
at base, obscurely serrate, abruptly contracted into long points at 
the apex. Midrib slender, primary veins conspicuous. They come 
out of the bud involute, bronze red, hairy above, petiole and lower 
surface coated with thick pale tomentum, when full grown bright 
green above, paler beneath. In autumn they become pale yellow 
and fall late. Petioles short, stout. 
Flowers.—May, when leaves are about one-third grown. White, 
perfect, about one inch long, borne on short, few-flowered racemes 
or fascicles developed from the axils of the previous year’s leaves, 
subtended by bracts. Pedicles slender, drooping, downy, one to 
two inches in length. Bracts obovate, yellow green, caducous. 
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