Handbook of the Trees of New England Part 29

=Bark.=--Trunk and branches mottled gray, roughish with round spots; branchlets light brown; season's shoots reddish at first, turning later to gray, thickly beset with rough yellowish warts; leaf-scars prominent, triangular.

=Buds and Leaves.=--Buds small, roundish. Leaves pinnately compound, alternate; rachis abruptly widened at base; leaflets 5-13, opposite, short-stalked except the odd one, 2-3 inches long, 1-2 inches wide, smooth, light green and mostly glossy when young, becoming dark green and often dull, obovate to oval or ovate; entire, often wavy-margined; apex acute, ac.u.minate, or obtuse; base mostly obtuse or rounded; veins prominent, often red; stipules none.

=Inflorescence.=--Early in July. Near the tips of the branches, in loose, axillary cl.u.s.ters of small greenish flowers; sterile, fertile, and perfect flowers on the same tree, or occasionally sterile and fertile on separate trees; calyx deeply 5-parted, divisions ovate, acute; petals 5, oblong; stamens 5, exserted in the sterile flowers; ovary globose, styles 3.

=Fruit.=--Drupes about as large as peas, smooth, more or less glossy, whitish; stone ridged; strongly resembling the fruit of _R.

Toxicodendron_ (poison ivy).

=Horticultural Value.=--No large shrub or small tree, so attractive as this, does so well in wet ground; it grows also in any good soil, but it is seldom advisable to use it, on account of its noxious qualities. It can be obtained only from collectors of native plants.

=Note.=--This sumac has the reputation of being the most poisonous of New England plants. The treacherous beauty of its autumn leaves is a source of grief to collectors. Many are seriously affected, without actual contact, by the exhalation of vapor from the leaves, by grains of pollen floating in the air, and even by the smoke of the burning wood.

It is easily distinguished from the other sumacs. The leaflets are not toothed like those of _R. typhina_ (staghorn sumac) and _R. glabra_ (smooth sumac); it is not p.u.b.escent like _R. typhina_ and _R. copallina_ (dwarf sumac); the rachis of the compound leaf is not wing-margined as in _R. copallina_; the panicles of flower and fruit are not upright and compact, but drooping and spreading; the fruit is not red-dotted with dense crimson hairs, but is smooth and whitish. Unlike the other sumacs, it grows for the most part in lowlands and swamps.

In the vicinity of Southington, southern Connecticut, _Rhus copallina_ is occasionally found with a trunk 5 or 6 inches in diameter (C. H.

Bissell).

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXIX.--Rhus Vernix.]

1. Winter buds.

2. Branch with sterile flowers.

3. Sterile flower.

4. Branch with fertile flowers.

5. Fertile flower.

6. Fruiting branch.

AQUIFOLIACEae. HOLLY FAMILY.

=Ilex opaca, Ait.=

HOLLY. AMERICAN HOLLY.

=Habitat and Range.=--Generally found in somewhat sheltered situations in sandy loam or in low, moist soil in the vicinity of water.

Maine,--reported on the authority of Gray's _Manual_, sixth edition, in various botanical works, but no station is known; New Hamps.h.i.+re and Vermont,--no station reported; Ma.s.sachusetts,--occasional from Quincy southward upon the mainland and the island of Naushon; rare in the peat swamps of Nantucket; Rhode Island,--common in South Kingston and Little Compton and sparingly found upon Prudence and Conanicut islands in Narragansett bay; Connecticut,--mostly restricted to the southwestern sections.

Southward to Florida; westward to Missouri and the bottom-lands of eastern Texas.

=Habit.=--A shrub or small tree, exceptionally reaching a height of 30 feet, with a trunk diameter of 15-18 inches, but attaining larger proportions south and west; head conical or dome-shaped, compact; branches irregular, mostly horizontal, clothed with a spiny evergreen foliage. The fertile trees are readily distinguished through late fall and early winter by the conspicuous red berries.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk thick, smooth on young trees, roughish, dotted on old, of a nearly uniform ash-gray on trunk and branches; the young shoots more or less downy, bright greenish-yellow, becoming smooth and grayish at the end of the season.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds short, roundish, generally obtuse, scales minutely ciliate. Leaves evergreen, simple, alternate, 2-4 inches long, 1-1/2-3 inches wide, flat when compared with those of the European holly, thickish, smooth on both sides, yellowish-green, scarcely glossy on the upper surface, paler beneath, elliptical, oval or oval-oblong; apex acutish, spine-tipped; base acutish or obtuse; margin wavy and concave between the large spiny teeth, sometimes with one or two teeth or entire; midrib prominent beneath; leafstalks short, grooved; stipules minute, awl-shaped, becoming blackish, persistent.

=Inflorescence.=--Flowers in June along the base of the season's shoots; sterile and fertile flowers usually on separate trees,--the sterile in loose, few-flowered cl.u.s.ters, the fertile mostly solitary; peduncles and pedicels slender, bracted midway; calyx persistent, with 4 pointed, ciliate teeth; corolla white, monopetalous, with 4 roundish, oblong divisions; stamens 4, alternating with and shorter than the lobes of the corolla in the fertile flowers, but longer in the sterile; ovary green, nearly cylindrical, surmounted by the sessile, 4-lobed stigma. Parts of the flower sometimes in fives or sixes.

=Fruit.=--A dull red, berry-like drupe, with 4 nutlets, ribbed or grooved on the convex back, ripening late, and persistent into winter. A yellow-fruited form reported at New Bedford, Ma.s.s. (_Rhodora_, III, 58).

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in southern New England; though preferring moist, gravelly loam, it does fairly well in dry soil; of slow growth; useful to form low plantation in shade and to enrich the undergrowth of woods; occasionally sold by collectors but rare in nurseries; nursery plants must be frequently transplanted to be moved successfully; only a small percentage of ordinary collected plants live. The seed seldom germinates in less than two years.

=Notes.=--The cultivated European holly, which the American tree closely resembles, may be distinguished by its deeper green, glossier, and more wave-margined leaves and the deeper red of its berries.

"There are several fine specimens of the _Ilex opaca_ on the farm of Col. Minot Thayer in Braintree, Ma.s.s., which are about a foot in diameter a yard above the ground and 25 feet in height. They have maintained their present dimensions for more than fifty years."--D. T.

Browne's _Trees of North America_, published in 1846.

This estate is now owned by Mr. Thomas A. Watson. Several of these trees have been cut down, but one of them is still standing and of substantially the dimensions given above. It must have reached the limit of growth a hundred years ago and now shows very evident signs of decrepitude. This may be due, however, to the loss of a square foot or more of bark from the trunk.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXX.--Ilex opaca.]

1. Branch with staminate flowers.

2. Staminate flower.

3. Pistillate flower.

4. Fruiting branch.

ACERACEae. MAPLE FAMILY.

=Acer rubrum, L.=

RED MAPLE. SWAMP MAPLE. SOFT MAPLE. WHITE MAPLE.

=Habitat and Range.=--Borders of streams, low lands, wet forests, swamps, rocky hillsides.

Nova Scotia to the Lake of the Woods.

Common throughout New England from the sea to an alt.i.tude of 3000 feet on Katahdin.

South to southern Florida; west to Dakota, Nebraska, and Texas.

=Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 40-50 feet high, rising occasionally in swamps to a height of 60-75 feet; trunk 2-4 feet in diameter, throwing out limbs at varying angles a few feet from the ground; branches and branchlets slender, forming a bushy spray, the tips having a slightly upward tendency; head compact, in young trees usually rounded and symmetrical, widest just above the point of furcation. In the first warm days of spring there s.h.i.+mmers amid the naked branches a faint glow of red, which at length becomes embodied in the abundant scarlet, crimson, or yellow of the long flowering stems; succeeded later by the brilliant fruit, which is outlined against the sober green of the foliage till it pales and falls in June. The colors of the autumn leaves vie in splendor with those of the sugar maple.

=Bark.=--In young trees smooth and light gray, becoming very dark and ridgy in large trunks, the surface separating into scales, and in very old trees hanging in long flakes; young shoots often bright red in autumn, conspicuously marked with oblong white spots.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Buds aggregated at or near the ends of the preceding year's shoots, about 1/8 inch long; protected by dark reddish scales; inner scales lengthening with the growth of the shoot. Leaves simple, opposite, 3-4 inches long, green and smooth above, lighter and more or less p.u.b.escent beneath, especially along the veins; turning crimson or scarlet in early autumn; ovate, 3-5-lobed, the middle lobe generally the longest, the lower pair (when 5 lobes are present) the smallest; unequally sharp-toothed, with broad, acute sinuses; apex acute; base heart-shaped, truncate, or obtuse; leafstalk 1-3 inches long. The leaves of the red maple vary greatly in size, outline, lobing, and shape of base.

=Inflorescence.=--April 1-15. Appearing before the leaves in close cl.u.s.ters encircling the shoots of the previous year, varying in color from dull red or pale yellow to scarlet; the sterile and fertile flowers mostly in separate cl.u.s.ters, sometimes on the same tree, but more frequently on different trees; calyx lobes oblong and obtuse; petals linear-oblong; pedicels short; stamens 5-8, much longer than the petals in the sterile and about the same length in the fertile flowers; the smooth ovary surmounted by a style separating into two much-projecting stigmatic lobes.

=Fruit.=--Fruit ripe in June, hanging on long stems, varying from brown to crimson; keys about an inch in length, at first convergent, at maturity more or less divergent.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy throughout New England; found in a wider range of soils than any other species of the genus, but seeming to prefer a gravelly or peaty loam in positions where its roots can reach a constant supply of moisture. It is more variable than any other of the native maples and consequently is not so good a tree for streets, where a symmetrical outline and uniform habit are required. It is transplanted readily, but recovers its vigor more slowly than does the sugar or silver maple and is usually of slower growth. Its variable habit makes it an exceedingly interesting tree in the landscape.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLATE LXXI.--Acer rubrum.]