104. WOODY PLANTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 
and containing one or two bottle-shaped, covered ovaries or 
germs.* About these germs the swelling scales coalesce, and 
form a roundish or obscurely four-sided berry, which is green, 
covered with a bluish powder, and marked with minute projec- 
tions indicating the points of the once distinct scales. ‘The seeds 
are one or two, covered with a bony shell, in the shape of a 
short cone, which is compressed on one side, when there are 
two. The flowers open in April or May, and the fruit is ma- 
ture in October or November, but continues on the tree through 
the winter. 
Though usually having little beauty, it may be made a hand- 
some low or middle-sized tree, by careful pruning when young. 
If this is attempted too late, the tree is deformed by numerous 
knots. When growing in a dry but rich soil, in a sheltered 
situation, it is sometimes a fine tree. One such, eighteen inches 
in diameter, is growing near the country house of the late 
Thomas Rotch, Esq., near Philadelphia, which has a full, 
round, ample head, and is nearly forty feet high. 
The wood is light, close-grained, smooth, and compact, and 
possessed of great durability. The agreeable and permanent 
odor recommends it for certain uses, as that of making pencils, 
and the bottoms of small boxes and drawers, the aroma making 
it a safeguard against insects. ‘The sap-wood is white, but the 
heart-wood of a beautiful red, whence is derived its name. It 
is much used to make posts, which last many years. It is also 
used in the manufacture of pails and tubs. 
The timber is highly valued by ship-builders, boat-builders, 
and carpenters, and by cabinet-makers, and turners. Dr. Elliott 
makes an observation in regard to the trees, as found growing in 
the Southern States, which holds true in several parts of New 
England. “Those which grow along the sea-coast, with their 
roots partially immersed in salt-water, though smaller in their 
dimensions, are much more durable than those which inhabit 
the forests. Often when surrounded and finally destroyed by 
the encroachments of the salt-water, their bodies remain in the 
* The necks of these bottle-shaped bodies, which are in fact only openings to 
the naked ovary, have till recently been mistaken for pistils. 
