Juniper Tree (Juniperus communis), is rarely seen as a tree, but appears usually as a low shrub. Its awl-shaped, pointed leaves stand always by threes of the same height on the young shoots. The male blossom catkins are short-stalked, and stand singly in the axils of the bracts; the fruit is a black berry. These berries are employed for medicinal purposes. The so-called White Cedar of the Eastern States and the Bermuda Cedar, much prized for timber, are junipers.
Larch (Larix Europæa), has leaves which grow in clusters, and drop during the Autumn. Its bark is rough and cracked; its red-blossom catkins stand at the side of the yellow catkins. Its egg-shaped little cones have backward bent stalks. The larch tree attains a height of from forty-five to sixty feet, and is found in forests everywhere. The American Larch or Tamarack is a slender tree fifty to sixty feet high, growing from Virginia to Hudson Bay. It is often planted as an ornamental tree and the wood is highly valued for shipbuilding and for telegraph poles.
Linden or Lime (Tilia), is the emblem of intense feeling. It has been from time immemorial the favorite of the Germans. Below the large linden trees the judicial proceedings, the fairs, and national games formerly took place in Germany, and to this day men and women like to sit under the village linden tree, and talk of the good old times. They do not blossom before June and July. The blossom is five-leaved, and contains many stamens and one pistil. The fruit is a little nut. The American Linden or Basswood is a large tree seventy to one hundred and twenty-five feet high, growing from New Brunswick to Georgia, west to Nebraska and Texas. The wood is extensively used for making cheap furniture and paper pulp. The Southern Basswood or Whitewood is a small tree forty to fifty feet high growing from Long Island to Florida, west to Texas. The White Basswood or Bee Tree is a forest tree forty-five to seventy feet high, Pennsylvania to Florida, west to Illinois and Tennessee.
Locust is a name applied to various trees of the Pea family. The American Locust Tree or the False Acacia is seventy to eighty feet high, growing from Pennsylvania to Georgia. It is widely naturalized in most states east to the Rocky Mountains. The wood is compact and hard and is extensively used for shipbuilding and all purposes where great strength and toughness are required.
Mahogany (Swietenia Mahagoni), is a native of Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies, and yields one of the most generally used of cabinet woods. The leaves resemble those of the ash; the flowers are clustered and small, with their parts in whorls of five, and ten united stamens; and the fruit is a pear-shaped, woody capsule with winged seeds. The wood is a rich reddish-brown, often richly mottled, uniform in grain, susceptible of the highest polish, and very durable. In Mexico the timber is sometimes in thirty-foot lengths and forty-eight inches square. Mahogany is commonly divided into Spanish, the darker, heavier and more figured, from San Domingo and Cuba, and Honduras, lighter, softer, and plainer, from the mainland. It is employed in carving, turning, veneering and cabinet-making, and for solid furniture, easily holding first rank among cabinet woods.
Maple (Acer). This genus of trees contains nearly one hundred species, natives of north temperate regions, especially North America and eastern Asia. The Sugar Maple is ninety to one hundred and twenty feet high, and grows from Newfoundland to Georgia, west to eastern Nebraska and Kansas. The wood is extensively used in cabinet work and interior finish. Large quantities of sugar and syrup are made from the sap. The Silver or Soft Maple is found from New Brunswick to Florida, west to Ontario, Nebraska and Oklahoma. It is often planted as a shade tree. The Scarlet or Red Maple grows in swamps and low ground from New Brunswick to Manitoba, south to Florida and Texas. The close-grained wood is largely used for furniture, and in turnery. The Oregon Maple grows from Alaska to California. It is often planted as an ornamental tree.
Mesquite (Prosopis), is a genus of trees containing about sixteen species, natives of America, Asia, and Africa, three of which grow in the United States. It varies from a straggling shrub to a widely-branched tree fifty feet high and occurs from central Texas to eastern California, and southward to Chile and Argentina. The very heavy wood is used for fuel and fence posts, while the pods and leaves are much eaten by stock. The Screwpod Mesquite is twenty-five to thirty feet high and valuable in arid regions.
Oak (Quercus), is most numerous in temperate climates, though some are tropical; fully fifty species occur in the United States, with many intermediate forms or hybrids. The Oak is a true giant among forest trees. Its trunk often attains a circumference of thirty feet. Its bark is smooth in the young trees and rough in the old oaks. The strong, widely extended boughs are pronged and knotty; the crown is large, with a sinuate outline. The blossoms are within long pendent catkins and appear in the month of May. The bark and the acorns, which are contained in pretty little cups, are medicinal. Along the stems and the boughs mosses and lichens grow exuberantly. In the galls of the leaves and branches different gall insects live. The horn beetles suck the sap of the oaks, and the acorns form the food of squirrels and other rodents. The European Oak, the most important Old World timber oak, is sparingly planted in the United States. The White Oak, the most valuable American timber oak, occurs from Texas to Minnesota and eastward. With similar range, but less valuable for timber, are Bur Oak or Mossy Cup Oak, the Scarlet Oak and the Red Oak. The Cow Oak or Basket Oak and the Yellow or Chestnut Oak produce edible acorns. The bark of the Quercitron is used in tanning, as a yellow dye, and in medicine. The Live Oak, once famous for ship-building, is a sturdy species with entire evergreen leaves occurring in the Southern States, Cuba and the Pacific States.
Osage Orange or Bow Wood (Maclura pomifera), is a native of the southwestern United States. It attains a height of twenty to sixty feet, and is extensively planted for hedges, while the wood, of orange color and of great hardness, is valuable for fence posts, mallet heads, and to some extent in cabinet work.