CHECK LIST OF FOREST TREES 7 



lumber under the names of "Reel Gum," "Satin Walnut." "Hazel- 

 wood." etc. Unless the consumer is able accurately to distinguish 

 .umber of this gum from that of the true walnuts, hazelwood. etc., 

 serious confusion is likely to arise. In the case of some of the timber 

 species, of which large commercial supplies are available, such as the 

 Northern White Pine. Western White Pine. Douglas Fir, and Longleaf 

 Fine there would seem to be no good reason why the trees and their 

 woods should not bear the same names. 



Obviously, it is impracticable to apply the standard names of all 

 timber trees to their wood products. There are many commercially 

 important timber trees, the standard common names of which could 

 not well be applied to the corresponding woods as now marketed. 

 The best example of this class of trees is the White Oak. Because, 

 botanically speaking, true White Oak is becoming more and more 

 difficult to obtain in commercial quantities, the wood of other species 

 of the white oak group is now being mingled with it and marketed as 

 "White Oak" and the quality of the latter is not measureably, if at 

 all in some cases, vitiated by the additions. There comes a time, 

 therefore, in the commercial history of some of our timber species, 

 when the tree and its wood can not continue to be known by the 

 same common name. This seems especially true when the attempt is 

 made to disguise a mixture of inferior woods under a name that orig- 

 inally was applied only to one sort of high-grade lumber. The 

 consumer of lumber, not always able accurately to distinguish 

 woods of similar appearance, has the right to purchase material 

 that is either true to name, or, if necessity compels mixing several 

 different species under one trade name, of a commonly acknowledged 

 c omm ere i a 1 q u a I i t y . 



On the whole, the tendency to misname commercially important 

 forest trees or their woods for trade purposes is extremely unfortunate 

 from an educational point of view. The sooner the public can be 

 correctly informed as to the proper common names of trees, the fewer 

 misunderstandings there will be in trade relations. There would 

 seem to be other means of acquainting users with the useful qualities 

 of little-known woods than by applying misleading names, which in 

 time must be exposed. 



SYNONYMOUS COMMON NAMES 



A list i< given of "Names in Use" after each species. When 

 names are known to be used in certain States, the latter follow 

 in parenthesis. Similarly, names used only in books or other litera- 

 ture are followed by the parenthetical pxpression "(lit.):" names 

 used in the lumber trade likewise are followed by the parenthetical 

 expression " (trade)." Names known to be applied only in general 

 are listed without comment. 



CHANGES IN TECHNICAL NAMES OF TREES 



There still appears to be some disagreoment among ^y^tematic 

 botanists regarding rules of nomenclature. The establishment 

 of an International Code in 1905. nt the International Botanical 

 Congress held in Vienna, Austria, apparently has not resulted in 

 complete harmony, at least among American botanists, some of 

 whom are following tho International rules while some are being 

 governed by the American Code. With one exception, the wiiter 



