Virginia Persimmon
VIRGINIA PERSIMMON
(Diospyros virginiana)
Shape with a round topped head: up to 115 ft. tall. Bark dark brown or black or gray, covered with warty, corky, rectangular plates. Leaves rather thick, shiny above, pale and often downy beneath, turning deep claret in fall. Flowers thick petaled with an odor like Gardenia, the sexes on separate trees. Fruit at first green, hard, and astringent, becoming amber or ruddy about the time of the first frosts, soft and edible. Range: s. Conn. to Fla. and e. Tex., Ozarks and Ia. Scarcely n. of the Ohio. The heartwood is nearly black, much valued for tools on account of its hardness. Only when thoroughly soft, if at all, are the fruits edible. The opossum is notoriously fond of them. BLACK PERSIMMON (Diospyros texana) differs in having leaves broadest near the end. The fruit, called Chapote, which has a black skin and thin insipid flesh, yields a black dye. w. Tex. and Mex.
White Ash
WHITE ASH
(Fraxinus americana)
Shape broadly round topped. Trunk massive. Bark light gray, deeply and regularly furrowed, with narrow braiding ridges. Branches ascending, the lower often long and finally drooping. Twigs stout, smooth, brittle, greenish gray. Buds rusty. Leaves of 5-9 stalked leaflets, silvery below, turning yellow or purple in autumn. Range: N. S. to w. Ont., and Minn., e. Neb., Kan., Okla. and Tex., s. to n. Fla. A superb shade tree, it is also one of the most valuable of our timber trees. Its wood is heavy, strong, and white, in demand for tools. BLUE ASH (Fraxinus quadrangulata) is a slender tree with 4-angled twigs, slender leaflets with coarse teeth, and flowers containing both sexes. A slender tree, to 120 ft. tall, it is a good timber species and the bark yields a blue dye. Mich. to Ark. and Ala. OREGON ASH (Fraxinus oregona). Leaflets not stalked. A lofty tree with valuable wood. Mts. Wash. to s. Calif.
Catalpa