32 
SMOOTH-LEAVED BUMELIA. 
Sideroxylon lycioides , Linn. Sp. pi. Duhamel. Arb. 2 , p. 260, t. 68. 
Mich. Flor. Bor. Amer. 1, p. 122. 
Sideroxylon Iceve . Walter, Flor. Carol, p. 100. 
Lycioides. Linn. Hortus Cliffort. p. 488. 
A small and rather elegant tree, from 12 to 40 feet high, 
chiefly an inhabitant of low wet forests, from Carolina to 
Florida, and in Louisiana, not far from the banks of the 
Mississippi ; but it is never met with in Canada, as stated 
by Willdenow in the Species Plantarum. It was first intro- 
duced into France from the Mississippi, by the French 
Canadians, under the name of the Milk-Wood of the Mis- 
sissippi, from the fact, that the young branches, when cut, 
yield a milky juice. The wood, according to Elliott, though 
not used by mechanics, is extremely hard, heavy, and irregu- 
larly grained, agreeing, in this respect, pretty nearly with 
the species of Sideroxylon of the West Indies, deriving 
their name from the hardness of their wood, which is com- 
pared to iron. One of the tropical species has wood nearly 
of the same yellow colour and close grain as that of the 
Box tree. 
The younger infertile branches generally produce axillary 
spines, which often increase in size with the advancing 
growth of the wood. The bark of the trunk is gray and 
smooth, at length cloven into narrow longitudinal chinks, 
that of the branches is brownish-grey and smooth. The 
leaves, at first somewhat silky pubescent and whitish 
beneath, are rather narrow and lanceolate, somewhat 
obtuse, smooth and reticulated above, attenuated below 
into a moderate and slender petiole, brought together 
usually in lateral clusters ; in the centre of which, sur- 
rounded by the round clusters of flowers, issues occasionally 
a spine. The leaves at length smooth, are about 3 inches 
long including the petiole, and an inch or less in width. 
The flowers, small and greenish, are in axillary or lateral 
