Maine,—Waterville on the Kennebec, the most northern station yet reported (Dr. Ezekiel Holmes); New Hampshire,—most common in the Merrimac valley, seldom seen north of the White mountains; Vermont,—occasional; Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut,—rather common.
South to Florida; west to Michigan, Missouri, and Texas.
Habit.—Tree 20-50 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 1-2 feet, rising in the forest to the height of 60-80 feet; attaining greater dimensions farther south; lower branches horizontal or declining, often touching the ground at their tips, the upper horizontal or slightly rising, angular, repeatedly subdividing; branchlets very numerous, short and stiff, making a flat spray; head extremely variable, unique in picturesqueness of outline; usually broad-spreading, flat-topped or somewhat rounded; often reduced in Nantucket and upon the southern shore of Cape Cod to a shrub or small tree of 10-15 feet in height, forming low, dense, tangled thickets. Foliage very abundant, dark lustrous green, turning early in the fall to a brilliant crimson.
Bark.—Trunk of young trees grayish-white, with irregular and shallow striations, in old trees darker, breaking up into somewhat hexagonal or lozenge-shaped scales; branches smooth and brown; season's shoots reddish-green, with a few minute dots.
Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds ovoid, ⅛-¼ inch long, obtuse. Leaves simple, irregularly alternate, often apparently whorled when clustered at the ends of the shoots, 2-5 inches long, one-half as wide; at first bright green beneath, dullish-green above, becoming dark glossy green above, paler beneath, obovate or oblanceolate to oval; entire, few or obscurely toothed, or wavy-margined above the center; apex more or less abruptly acute; base acutish; firm, smooth, finely sub-veined; stem short, flat, grooved, minutely ciliate, at least when young; stipules none.
Inflorescence.—May or early June. Appearing with the leaves in axillary clusters of small greenish flowers, sterile and fertile usually on separate trees, sometimes on the same tree,—sterile flowers in simple or compound clusters; calyx minutely 5-parted, petals 5, small or wanting; stamens 5-12, inserted on the outside of a disk; pistil none: fertile flowers larger, solitary, or several sessile in a bracted cluster; petals 5, small or wanting; calyx minutely 5-toothed.
Fruit.—Drupes 1-several, ovoid, blue black, about ½ inch long, sour: stone striated lengthwise.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; adapts itself readily to most situations but prefers deep soil near water. Seldom offered in nurseries and difficult to transplant unless frequently root-pruned or moved; collected plants do not thrive well; seedlings are raised with little difficulty. Few trees are of greater ornamental value.
