BLEMISHES IN TREE HUCKLEBERRY. 
THE HEATH FAMILY (ERICACEiE). 
87 
The wood of two species of this family is known to be blemished 
by sapsuckers, the defects varying from small to very large stained 
checks. The woods are, however, little used. 
Species of Ericaceae blemished. — Sourwood and madrona. 
THE HUCKLEBERRY 
FAMILY (VACCINIA- 
CE2E). 
The single native 
arborescent species is 
badly blemished by 
sapsuckers. 
Tree huckle- 
berry (Batodendron 
arboreum). — A mod- 
erate amount of sap- 
sucker work in tins 
wood results in very 
dark brown stains, 
which run far along 
the grain and in open 
checks up to an inch 
in length. Under 
vigorous sapsucker 
attack patches of 
bark are killed, and 
the healing being 
slow the exterior of 
the tree is consider- 
ably distorted by 
swollen girdles and 
disfigured by pits and 
exposed patches of 
deadwood or bark. 
The wounds are 
marked by deep black 
stains or often by 
open checks. The latter extend toward the bark and many of them 
have remained 10 years unhealed (fig. 37). These checks are soft- 
walled, irregular, and black-stained, and the unclosed ones show 
patches of dead and discolored wood or bark up to 2\ inches in 
diameter. These blemishes make the wood useless for any but the 
coarsest construction or for fuel. (Specimens from Cdttonport and 
Longbridge, La.) 
Fig. 37. — Effects of sapsucker work on wood of the tree huckleberry 
{Batodendron arboreum). Longitudinal and cross sections. Stained 
open checks and fissures. 
