220 



PRACTICAL FORESTET. 



"variable in size and shape on the same tree. Fruit blue, on thick 

 red petioles. The pulp thin, but of a succulent, rather spicy fla- 

 vor, greedily eaten w^hen ripe by birds. The bark, and especially 

 that on the roots strongly aromatic, and formerly was in high 

 repute as a medicine for various diseases. It is still in some 

 demand, as the bark of the roots is a powerful stimulant ; but 

 the oil distilled from the roots is now of more commercial im- 

 portance, it being extensively used in imparting flavor to candies 

 and similar articles. A rather handsome tree, fifty to sixty feet 

 high in favorable soils, with a stem two feet in diameter. Wood 

 reddish in very old trees, moderately bard, easily worked, and 

 considered very dm-able. Bark on young twigs very smooth, 

 and of a deep green color, but on older branches and stems 

 rough, of a grayish color, and deejDly furrowed. The roots pro- 

 duce suckers in great abundance, and these are not readily de- 

 stroyed as their roots penetrate the soil to a great depth. Com- 

 mon on light soils, river banks, and in rocky woods, from 

 Canada to Florida, and west to Texas. 



SCH^FPERIA^ Jacq. — Crah Wood, 



A genus of the Celastracece or Staff -tree Family, with ever- 

 green alternate leaves, and dioecious flowers ; very small, green- 

 ish, and in axillary clusters. The one species found in the 

 United States has been described under three different names, 

 viz. S. completa, Swartz, and S. buxifolia^ Nutt., but now 

 recognized as the 



Sehjefferia frntescens, Jacq. — Crab "Wood, Jamaica Boxwood. — 

 Leaves obovate-oblong, entire, acute or obtuse, an inch and a 

 half long. Flowers three to five in a cluster, the slender stalks 

 arising from a wart-like peduncle. Fruit a two-celled, two- 

 seeded drupe. A small tree, M ith a hard, coarse-grained wood. 

 Southern Florida, and in the West Indies. 



A closely allied tree, the Schcepfia arborescens, E. and S., 

 inhabiting the West Indies, is rej)orted to have been found in 

 Southern Florida. It is, however, a very small tree of not much 

 importance, although interesting to the botanist. 



SEBASTiAisriA, Muell. — Poiso7i Wood, 



Tropical or sub-tropical trees and shrubs, with milky juice ; 

 alternate, serrate or crenate leaves. Flowers dioecious or monoe- 

 cious without petals. 



Sebastiania laeida, Muell. — Shining-Leaved Poison Wood. — 



