Families Platanaceæ, Cornaceæ, and Moracæ
There is but one genus in the family Platanaceæ, and but one species in the genus found growing in the Northeastern States, the buttonwood, or sycamore.
Buttonwood, Sycamore, or Plane Tree Platanus occidentalis
A large tree, 80 to 100 feet high, with an irregular, picturesque outline. The bark breaks off in thin, brittle plates at the base of the trunk, and higher up it is smooth, an olive green color, and covered with white blotches. The buds are subpetiolar,—that is, they are covered over by the base of the leafstalk through the summer, and concealed entirely until the leaf drops off. The leaf-scar is in the shape of a ring around the bud, with prominent bundle-scars; the arrangement of the leaf-scars is alternate. Stipule scars are found on the stems in some places. The buds are conical, smooth, and brown, and are covered by one scale. The fruit hangs on the tree all winter,—a large, dry ball made up of hundreds of seeds.
Like everything which has a definite individuality, the buttonwood is a tree which people either like or dislike strongly. It is certainly picturesque, and its subpetiolar buds alone make it unusually interesting, whether one admires it or not from an æsthetic point of view. These buds are entirely concealed through the summer by the hollow bases of the leafstalks which fit over the buds like candle extinguishers, and leave scars in circles after they have fallen.
Its bark has little expansive power, the tissue is rigid and cannot stretch with the growing power from within, and it splits and is thrown off easily. In connection with this, Dr. Holmes says in “The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table”:—
BUTTONWOOD
Platanus occidentalis
Page [118]
TRUNK OF A BUTTONWOOD
Page [119]
“The buttonwood throws off its bark in large flakes, which one may find lying at its foot, pushed out, and at last pushed off, by that tranquil movement from beneath, which is too slow to be seen, but too powerful to be arrested. One finds them always, but one rarely sees them fall. So it is our youth drops from us—scales off, sapless and lifeless, and lays bare the tender and immature fresh growth of old age.”
Bryant says in his poem, “To the Green River”:—
“Clear are its depths where its eddies play,
And dimples deepen and whirl away,
And the plane tree’s speckled arms o’ershoot
The swifter current that mines its root.”
Gray calls the buttonwood our largest tree, and Emerson alludes to it as “the largest, grandest, and loftiest deciduous tree in America;” while Gilpin says that “no tree forms a more pleasing shade than the occidental plane.”
The wood takes a good polish and is used for making furniture, ox yokes, and for the interior finish of houses.
The generic name, Platanus, comes from the Greek word for broad, and has reference to the wide-spreading leaves and branches of the tree. The specific name, occidentalis, was given to the sycamore as distinctive from Platanus orientalis, the oriental plane tree of Europe. The oriental plane is planted occasionally in this country, and may be distinguished from our native species by its broader head and by the fruit, which frequently hangs in clusters instead of singly on the tree.
The Cornaceæ or dogwood family contains two New England genera. Among many species of shrubs, two trees deserve especial notice, the tupelo and the flowering dogwood.
Tupelo, Pepperidge, Sour Gum Tree Nyssa sylvatica
A medium-sized tree, with horizontal branches and often with an excurrent trunk. Dark gray furrowed bark. Grayish brown twigs, with alternate ridged leaf-scars and three bundle-scars at the top of the leaf-scar. Small, brown buds, with overlapping, hairy scales. The fruit is a small, bluish black drupe, ripe in the autumn.
The tupelo at all seasons is a striking tree, and is easily distinguished even at a distance by its flat, rigid branches, growing in horizontal layers from the main trunk. It varies much in shape, according to its surroundings in youth. When it has grown up among other trees in the woods it is erect and tall, and when it has stood by itself in open ground it is low and broad, and almost always carries its main trunk well into the top of the tree.
The wood is heavy, tough, and hard to work, and the fibres intertwine so closely that it is very difficult to split. It is used in making the hubs of wheels and ox yokes.
TUPELO
Nyssa sylvatica
Page [120]
The generic name, Nyssa, is the Greek name of a nymph, and was given to the tupelo on account of its habit of growing in wet places, on the borders of ponds, and in low, moist woods. The specific name is frequently given to plants and trees, and comes from the Latin word which means belonging to the woods.
It is found from Maine to Florida and westward, and stands the winds from the sea well when it grows along the coast, apparently losing little of its vigor.
Flowering Cornel, Flowering Dogwood Cornus florida
A small tree or shrub, 12 to 40 feet high, with a dark, rough bark. The recent shoots are gray and covered with down. The leaf-scars are small and opposite each other on the stem. The flower buds are conspicuous.
The flowering cornel can be distinguished by its flower buds alone in winter, if by nothing else. They are small and round with long curving tips, and in shape they look something like the paper torpedoes children play with on the Fourth of July. This is the only native tree in our climate, besides the maple and ash, which has opposite leaf-scars.
The confusion existing in some minds between the flowering dogwood of the woods and the poison dogwood of the swamps casts an undeserved shadow over the name of the former. If the poison dogwood were always called poison sumac and the Cornus florida, flowering cornel, this unfortunate confusion would soon end.
The wood is strong, hard, and close-grained, and takes polish exceedingly well. It is used in turnery, for the handles of tools, and occasionally for engravers’ blocks. The bark is bitter and is used as an astringent and tonic, especially in the treatment of fevers. The Indians made a scarlet dye from the bark of the roots.
The generic name comes from the Latin cornus, a horn, and refers to the hardness of the wood, and the specific name, florida (abounding in blossoms), alludes to the remarkable white flowers of this cornel, which open in June.
The flowering dogwood is found from Eastern Massachusetts to Central Florida and westward, and grows under large trees in rich woods.
The Moracæ are a small family with but one native representative in the North, the red mulberry. The white mulberry from China has been so widely cultivated and naturalized in the United States, that it is seen more commonly than the native species.
RED MULBERRY
Morus rubra
Page [123]
Red Mulberry Morus rubra
A small tree, 15 to 60 feet high. The bark is rough, with long furrows. The twigs are a light greenish brown and the leaf-scars are oval, hollow, and alternate in arrangement. The bundle-scars form a closed chain around the leaf-scar. A milky juice comes if the stems are cut on warm days in winter. Very smooth buds.
The red mulberry is not particularly attractive in winter. In open situations its branches are wide spreading without being graceful, and it is broadly erect in shape without being stately. It grows to be a much larger tree in the South than it does in the North.
The wood is soft and light, but very durable, and it is used for fences and cooperage, and in the South for boat-building. The fruit is edible, with an agreeable acid flavor.
The generic name, Morus, is probably derived from the Celtic word mor, meaning black, in reference to the color of the fruit. The specific name, rubra, is given to this species because the mulberries are dark red instead of white, like those of Morus alba.
The red mulberry is found growing wild in Western Massachusetts, south to Florida and westward. It is frequently planted in gardens for its fruit.
White Mulberry Morus alba
A small tree, with a rough bark, small, round brown buds, and small projecting alternate leaf-scars with clearly defined bundle-scars. The buds are smaller and more rounded than those of the red mulberry. It is easily distinguished from the red mulberry by its more numerous and slender shoots.
Professor Charles S. Sargent says that no other tree furnishes employment, directly and indirectly, to so large a number of the human race, or has been so carefully studied from the cultural point of view, and no other tree has given rise to such a voluminous literature as the white mulberry.
WHITE MULBERRY
Morus alba
Page [124]
It was introduced here from China about 1830, and it has been widely cultivated and naturalized throughout the United States. The Chinese were the first to cultivate the mulberry for feeding silkworms, and they are said to have discovered the art of making silk 2700 years B. C. According to Loudon the discovery is due to the keen powers of observation of the Empress Si-ling-chi, who watched the labors of silkworms on wild mulberry trees, and who first applied their silk to use. It is interesting to associate the making of silk with an empress who loved nature and used her eyes two thousand years and more B. C. From China the art passed into Persia, India, Arabia, and finally (350 B. C.) into Greece. In 1440 A. D. the white mulberry was introduced into upper Italy, and during the reign of Charles VII. the first white mulberry was planted in France. In 1609 the silkworm was introduced into Great Britain by James I., and at the same time he sent over mulberry trees and silkworms to America, and tried to induce the colonists in Virginia to cultivate silkworms instead of raising tobacco.
The wood has been used for making wine casks in Europe, and is highly valued on account of the supposed violet flavor it gives to white wines. The bark is used for making bast for mats, and linen also has been made out of it. The fruit of the white mulberry is insipid and tasteless.
Chapter X
THE LOCUSTS, THE YELLOWWOOD, AND THE KENTUCKY COFFEE TREE
The Common Locust and the Honey Locust.