Families Magnoliaceæ, Bignoniaceæ, Simaroubaceæ, and Araliaceæ
The magnolia family is made up of trees and shrubs belonging mainly to the tropics, but it has two genera in the Northeastern States,—the magnolia and the tulip tree. They are particularly interesting in winter on account of the buds which are covered with stipules forming bud-scales and which protect the undeveloped leaves until they open in the spring.
There are six species of magnolia in the United States, but only one is found growing wild in New England. The tulip tree is the only species in the genus Liriodendron and it is found only in eastern North America and western China.
Swamp Magnolia; Sweet Bay Magnolia glauca
A shrub or slender tree, 4 to 30 feet high, with light brown bark. The recent shoots are a bright green, and like the buds they have a tendency towards downiness. Alternate leaf-scars.
This magnolia is found growing more or less commonly in swamps from New Jersey to Florida, but it is rare in the north. Over a hundred years ago it was discovered growing wild in Essex County, Massachusetts, by a minister of Ipswich, the Rev. Manasseh Cutler, and it is still found in the swamps near Gloucester. It is a low shrub in the north, but in the south it grows to be a slender tree. The wood which is soft and light is occasionally used in the south for making broom handles. The roots of the swamp magnolia are very fleshy, and they used to be eaten by beavers. The early settlers in Pennsylvania called it the “beaver tree” and baited their traps to catch beavers with pieces of the roots.
The name was given to the genus in honor of Pierre Magnol, a professor of botany at Montpellier in the seventeenth century, the specific name, glauca (glaucous) refers to the bloom on the under side of the leaves.
The umbrella tree (Magnolia tripetala) is found much more commonly in parks and gardens than our native swamp magnolia, and it seems a better representative of the genus for illustration. In the south it grows to be thirty or forty feet high. The bark is light gray in color and covered with small, blister-like excrescences. The branches are stout, and green in color turning to brown. The buds are large and smooth and covered with a purplish, glaucous bloom, and the leaf-scars are clearly defined. This magnolia grows in deep, rich moist soil, and is nowhere common. It is more frequently cultivated than any of the other species.
The name, tripetala, was given to it by Linnæus, and refers to the three conspicuous sepals of the flowers. The English name alludes to the spreading umbrella-like arrangement of the leaves.
The cucumber tree (Magnolia acuminata), a large tree 50 to 90 feet high, grows wild in western New York and southward, and is often cultivated. Its leaf buds are silky. The specific name refers to the pointed apex of the leaves.
Tulip Tree Liriodendron tulipifera
A very large tree, 80 to 150 feet high, The bark is dark and smooth, with small shallow furrows. The twigs are light purplish brown, with a grayish bloom, and the leaf-scars are oval and alternate in arrangement. The terminal bud is covered by two stipules. There are stipule-scars on the stems. The fruit is a pointed, open, dry cone, often remaining on the trees through the winter.
The tulip tree is one of the largest and tallest trees in our American forests. It has long been admired for its beauty in the summer, and a study of its winter buds and stems discloses the fact that it is equally interesting and beautiful when its foliage has gone. The buds are peculiar in structure. Each leaf within the bud is protected by a pair of stipules, and in the spring, when the buds open, a leaf slowly uncurls from its two folded stipule coverings and another bud is seen beneath, wrapped in stipules. This bud unfolds and in its turn discloses another. The process is as fascinating to watch as the opening of Indian boxes one within another. This characteristic of the tulip tree in protecting its young leaves makes one associate a very human, maternal instinct with the tree; it seems of all others the most careful in protecting its young growth. Sir John Lubbock, in his work on “Buds and Stipules,” explains that the peculiar squared end of the tulip tree’s leaf is caused by the singular way it is folded in the bud.
TULIP TREE
Liriodendron tulipifera
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“I long wondered,” he says, “what could be the purpose or the advantage to the tree of this remarkable shape. One idea which occurred to me was that the difference of form might enable insects to perceive the tree at some distance, just as the colors of flowers are an advantage in rendering them more conspicuous. I then looked closely to see whether the peculiar forms could in any way be explained by the position of the leaves on the tree. I believe, however, that the cause is of a different nature, and has reference to the peculiar character of the bud. Each young leaf is, as in the family Magnoliaceæ generally, originally enclosed in and sheltered by the stipules of its predecessor. These are in Liriodendron oval or in form resembling a shallow dish or spoon, so that when placed face to face they form a hollow almond-shaped box. Inside this lies the next younger pair of stipules; and the rest of the space is occupied by the young leaf, which is conduplicate or folded on itself down the middle, like a sheet of note paper, and also turned back towards the base of the bud. This unusual position is probably due to the early development of the petiole. It seems obvious that the peculiar form of the leaf is due to the form and arrangement of the bud.”
The wood, which is known as whitewood and yellow poplar, is very valuable. It is light and easily worked, and is much used for furniture and in the interior finish of houses. The bark of the wood and branches is pungent, bitter, and aromatic, and acts on the system as a tonic. According to Bigelow’s “Medical Botany” it has been used in the treatment of chronic rheumatism and in intermittent fever.
The generic name comes from two Greek words meaning tulip tree, and alludes to the tulip-like flowers; the specific name also refers to the flowers, and means tulip bearing.
The tulip tree is found growing wild in Rhode Island and Vermont, south to Florida, and westward. It is planted commonly throughout New England. This tree was found growing in Western China in 1875, and in 1889 specimens were sent to England and it was found to be identical with the American species.
Hardy Catalpa; Indian Bean Catalpa speciosa
The family Bignoniaceæ (named for the Abbé Bignon) is an order of woody plants found abundantly in South America. It has a single representative genus cultivated in the Northern States and found wild in the South,—the catalpa. There are two species, the common catalpa and the hardy catalpa, the latter being the most desirable for planting.
CATALPA
Catalpa speciosa
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A tall tree, 60 to 80 feet high, with a thick, slightly furrowed bark. Smooth, gray, coarse, stiff twigs. Oval leaf-scars arranged in whorls of three on the stem, or opposite each other. The buds are short and inconspicuous, with loose scales, The fruit is in long pods, hanging on the tree till spring.
The catalpa is an attractive tree in winter on account of the long slender pods which hang from the tips of the branches, and give the stout stems a light effect otherwise lacking, for taken alone they are coarse and bluntly moulded and very rigid. The name catalpa comes from an Indian word meaning winged head; and as the catalpa has dense, heavy foliage in summer and suggests solidity rather than the light effect “winged” conveys to one’s mind, it is just possible that the Indians referred to its winter aspect when they gave it the name. The buds open very late in the spring, giving the tree a lifeless appearance long after other trees are green.
The value of the catalpa as a timber tree is fast becoming recognized. It grows rapidly, with an average increase of an inch a year in the diameter of the trunk, and the wood is very durable in contact with the soil; when used for railroad ties it has been known to remain sound for over twenty years. Its practical value is shown by the experience of an Illinois farmer who planted five hundred acres of these trees, and after eight years’ growth thirteen thousand posts were cut and sold for thirteen hundred dollars, and the remaining trees were improved rather than harmed by this thinning out.
The Latin name, speciosa (well-formed), refers to the beautiful flowers of this tree. The catalpa grows wild in the Middle West, and is cultivated commonly in parks and gardens in the Northeastern States.
The Simaroubaceæ family is a small order of trees and shrubs found in the South, with one genus in the North, a cultivated and widely naturalized tree,—the ailanthus from China.
Ailanthus; Tree of Heaven Ailanthus glandulosa
A large tree, with gray bark. Very large, coarse twigs with brown pith. Large alternate leaf-scars, V-shaped, or heart-shaped, with numerous bundle-scars. The buds are small, round, and inconspicuous, and covered with two scales. The terminal buds are lacking. The fruit is winged, like that of the ash, but its seed is in the centre. The dry clusters of fruit hang on some trees through the winter.
AILANTHUS
Ailanthus glandulosa
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The ailanthus, like the Kentucky coffee tree, is destitute of small spray among its branches, but it would never be confused with that tree on account of its smooth bark, which is a great contrast to the roughly ridged bark of the Kentucky coffee tree. Its stems are smooth and thick, and the large leaf-scars are much more prominent than the buds. Its large, pinnate leaves, often over four feet long, make the ailanthus decorative in summer, but its coarse stems in winter diminish its æsthetic value in landscape gardening. It grows very fast at first, its leading stems sometimes reaching over six feet in a single season; but after ten or twelve years this rate decreases and it advances with moderate growth.
In America it is planted only as an ornamental tree, but its wood is fine-grained, hard, and takes a good polish, and is well fitted for cabinet making.
The generic name was originally spelled ailantus, and came from ailanto (tree of heaven), the name of this tree in the Moluccas; its name was undoubtedly given to it on account of the rapidity of its growth and the great height it reaches in its native country. The specific name, glandulosa (glandulous), refers to the margins on the under side of the leaves.
The ailanthus originally came from China, but it has become naturalized here, and is planted very commonly in city streets, along country roads, and in parks and gardens. It was first brought to the United States by Mr. William Hamilton in 1784.
The family Araliaceæ, well known by its herb members, the ginseng and wild sarsaparilla, has one tree-like representative,—the aralia.
Angelica Tree; Hercules’ Club Aralia spinosa
A shrub or low tree, 8 to 30 feet high. Coarse, stout stems, covered with large prickles. The alternate leaf-scars are narrow and project from the stem and almost encircle it. The bundle-scars are near together and conspicuous. The buds are covered with loose scales and are small for the size of the stems. The white pith in the stems is conspicuous when they are cut.
Among all trees and shrubs the aralia is unique in winter. Its stout, club-like stems, thickly beset with prickles, are so large they never fail to attract attention, and whatever lack of beauty there may be is overlooked owing to their grotesque aspect. In our Northern gardens it is only a shrub, but it invariably arouses curiosity and seems to compel attention more than trees three times its size.
The bark of the root and the berries are occasionally used in medicine as a stimulant.
HERCULES’ CLUB
Aralia spinosa
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The meaning of the generic name is unknown. The specific name, spinosa, is the Latin word meaning prickly, and alludes to the stems.
Southward from Pennsylvania this curious, ungainly tree is found growing wild, and as it is hardy in the North it is frequently cultivated in gardens. It is seen at its best in the rich soil of the Big Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. There it grows to be thirty or thirty-five feet high, with wide-spreading branches and a true arborescent habit.
Chapter XIII
THE APPLE TREE, PEAR TREE, MOUNTAIN ASH, CHERRY TREE, AND THE SHAD BUSH
MOUNTAIN ASH
Pyrus americana
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