BLACK GUM. 
19 
In the winter this tree is recognized by a smooth, grayish bark, finely 
divided, and detached in strips not more than a line in breadth. 
The wood is perfectly white, compact, fine-grained and heavy. The 
concentric circles are closely compressed, and their number in a trunk 
of only 4 or 5 inches in diameter evinces the length of time necessary to 
acquire this inconsiderable size. To its inferior dimensions must be 
ascribed the limited use of a tree, the superior properties of whose wood 
are attested by its name. In the Northern States, and particularly in the 
District of Maine, the Iron Wood is used for the levers with which the 
trees felled in clearing the ground are transported to the piles on which 
they are consumed. Near New York, brooms and scrubbing-brushes are 
made of it, by shredding the end of a stick of suitable dimensions. Though 
its uses are unimportant, they might probably by more diversified ; it seems 
well adapted for mill-cogs, mallets, etc. 
The Iron Wood flourishes in France : several stocks, 15 or 20 feet in 
height, fructify annually on the ancient estate of Duhamel-Dumonceau, 
and young plants, the produce of self-sown seeds, are found in the vicinity. 
This species is among the exotic trees which might be propagated with 
advantage in Europe. 
PLATE CIX. 
A branch with leaves and fruit of the natural size. Fig. 1, A seed. 
BLACK GUM. 
Polygamia dicecia. Linn. Elæagnoides. Juss, 
Nyssa sylvatica. N. foliis ovalibus, integerrimis, petiolo, nervo medio , mar - 
gineque villosis; pedunculis femineis longis plerumque 2 -flor is, nuce brevi, 
obovatâ, obtusè striata. 
In the park of Mr. W. Hamilton, at the Woodlands, near Philadelphia, 
I first observed the Black Gum. The river Schuylkill in this vicinity may 
