NORTH AMERICA. 



65 



quercitron, black, or yellow oak (Q. tinctoria), one of the loftiest trees of our forest, being about 90 

 feet high, found all over the country except in the extreme north, yielding a brownish-yellow dye, called 

 quercitron; the swamp white oak {Q. prinus), extensively diffused; the pin oak {Q. paliistris), mosl 

 common in the middle parts of the country ; the post oak (Q. stellata), abundant in the southern States , 



Post Oak. Black Jack, Water Oak. Laurel Oak. 



the black jack (Q. ferruginea) ; the water oak (Q. aquatica) ; and the laurel oak (Q. imbricaria) 

 Most of this family afford good timber for building, staves, machinery, &lc., and the bark is generally- 

 valuable for tanning. The hickories are the shagbark [Carya alba), already mentioned ; the pekan- 

 nut (C. olivcrformis), whose fruit is much admired; the shag-bark hickory (C sulcata), the nutmeg 

 hickory (C. myristiccvformis), the pig-nut (C. porcina), Slc; the wood of the hickories possesses great 

 weight, tenacity, and strength, but decays quickly when exposed to heat and moisture. The walnuts are 

 nearly allied to them ; among them are the butternut (Juglans cinerea), and the black walnut (./. nigra), 

 which takes a beautiful polish. Among the maples, beside the sugar-maple, which furnishes the beau- 

 tiful bird's-eye maple for cabinetwork, are the black maple (Acer nigra), which also yields sugar, the 

 red maple {A. rubrmn), whose wood, called the curled maple, takes a beautiful polish, the white maple 

 (^A. eriocarpiun), the box-elder or ash-leaved maple (yl. negundo), &c. The maples are handsome trees, 

 with beautiful and peculiar leaves, which in the autumn assume various delicate and brilliant hues. The 

 buttonvvood or sycamore [Platanus occidmtalis), is one of the largest of our forest trees, especially in 

 the rich valleys of the West. The birches are for the most part northern trees, but the red birch [Bitula 

 nigra), is found in the southern States. The canoe birch (B. papyracea), takes its name from the use 

 which is made of the outer bark ; the canoes of the Indians and fur traders, formed of this material, are 



riuttoniraui!. lied Map!e.^ Black Birch. S:isst,f,<is. 



