BLEMISHES IN TREE HUCKLEBERRY. 

 THE HEATH FAMILY (ERICACEAE). 



87 



The wood of two species of this family is known, to be blemished 

 by sapsuckers, the defects varying from small to very large stained 

 checks. The woods are, however, little used. 



Species of Ericace^: blemished. — Sourwood and madrona. 



THE HUCKLEBERRY 

 FAMILY (VACCINIA- 



ceje). 



The single native 

 arborescent species is 

 badly blemished by 

 sapsuckers. 



Tree huckle- 

 berry (Batodendron 

 arboreum) . — A mod- 

 erate amount of sap- 

 sucker work in this 

 wood results in very 

 dark brown stains, 

 winch run far along 

 the grain and in open 

 checks up to an inch 

 in length. Under 

 vigorous sapsucker 

 attack patches of 

 bark are killed, and 

 the healing being 

 slow the exterior of 

 the tree is consider- 

 ably distorted by 

 swollen girdles and 

 disfigured by pits and 

 exposed patches of 

 deadwood or bark. 

 The wounds are 

 marked by deep black 

 stains or often by 

 open checks. The latter extend toward the bark and many of them 

 have remained 10 years unhealed (fig. 37). These checks are soft- 

 walled, irregular, and black-stained, and the unclosed ones show 

 patches of dead and discolored wood or bark up to 2\ inches in 

 diameter. These blemishes make the wood useless for any but the 

 coarsest construction or for fuel. (Specimens from Cottonport and 

 Longbridge, La.) 



f^TTP 



Fig. 37.— Effects of sapsucker work on wood of the tree huckleberry 

 {Batodendron arboreum). Longitudinal and cross sections. Stained 

 open checks and fissures. 



