CUCUMBER TREE. 
11 
north of the river Hudson, and to all the Atlantic parts of the United 
States, to the distance of 100, 150, and 200 miles from the sea ; the nature 
of the soil, and the extreme heat of the climate in summer, being utterly 
uncongenial to its growth. It is also rare in the parts of Kentucky and 
West Tennessee which are most remote from the mountainSj where the 
face of the country is less uneven. 
The leaves of the Cucumber Tree are 6 or 7 inches long, and 3 or 4 
inches broad, upon old trees ; upon saplings growing in moist places, 
they are twice as large. Their form is oval, entire, and very acuminate : 
they fall in the autumn and are renewed in the spring. 
The flowers which are 5 or 6 inches in diameter, are bluish, and some- 
times white with a tint of yellow. They have a feeble odor, but as they 
are large and numerous, they have a fine effect in the midst of the superb 
foliage. 
The cones or fruit are about 3 inches long, 8 or 10 inches in diameter, 
of nearly a cylindrical shape, and often a little larger at the upper end than 
at the base. They are convex on one side and concave on the other, and 
when green they nearly resemble a young cucumber, whence the tree has 
derived its name. The cells are arranged as in the other species of this 
genus, and each of them contains one rose-colored seed, which, before it 
escapes, remains suspended like those of the Great and Small Magnolias. 
Most of the inhabitants of the country bordering on the Alleghanies gather 
the cones about Midsummer, when they are half ripe, and steep them in 
whiskey : a glass or two of this liquor, which is extremely bitter, they 
habitually take in the morning, as a preservative against autumnal fevers. 
Its efficacy I do not deny, but it has not been made sufficiently evident to 
induce any physician to attempt its verification. 
The Cucumber Tree sometimes exceeds 80 feet in height, and 3 or 4 
feet in diameter at the same number of feet from the ground. The trunk 
is perfectly straight, of a uniform size, and often destitute of branches for 
two thirds of its length. The summit is ample and regularly shaped, and 
the tree is one of the finest in the American forests. On old stocks the 
bark is grayish and deeply furrowed. The heart or perfect wood is soft, 
and of a yellowish brown color, bearing in this respect, some analogy to 
the Poplar or Tulip Tree. Like the poplar wood, it is fine grained and 
susceptible of a brilliant polish ; but it is less strong and less durable when 
exposed to the weather. Being a rare tree, it is only accidentally employed 
in the arts. Sawn into boards, it serves in joinery for the interior of 
wooden houses, and, for its size and lightness, it is selected for large canoes. 
As its wood possesses no properties which fit it for any determinate use, 
the Cucumber Tree is esteemed only because its foliage and flowers render 
it ornamental, and because, like the other trees of this genus, it blooms at 
an early age. Like the Small Magnolia, it endures uninjured the rigorous 
