and at maturity thick and firm in texture, 4'-5' long, about 2' wide, dark dull green and
glabrous on the upper surface, dull and covered on the lower surface with short simple or
Fig. 529
forked accrescent hairs most abundant and sometimes rufescent on the slender midrib and
primary veins; petioles stout, tomentose, becoming pubescent, eglandular or occasionally
furnished near the apex with 1 or 2 large dark glands, l'-\' in length; stipules lanceolate,
acuminate, glandular-serrate, bright red, \' long, caducous. Flowers appearing during the
first w y eek of May, when the leaves are about half grown, \' in diameter, on pubescent pedi-
cels from the axils of ovate or obovate acuminate bright pink caducous bracts, in spreading
KOSACE^E
577
or erect slender pubescent racemes 3 '-4' long; calyx-tube broad, cup-shaped, puberulous,
with short almost triangular lobes persistent on the fruit; petals white, nearly orbicular.
Fruit ripening late in September, subglobose to short-oblong, \' in diameter, dark red or
finally nearly black, with thin acid flesh; stone ovoid somewhat compressed, pointed at the
ends, I' long, ridged on the ventral suture with a broad low ridge, and slightly grooved on
the dorsal suture.
A tree, 25-30 high, with a short trunk rarely 10' in diameter, spreading somewhat
drooping branches, and slender branchlets coated at first with pale tomentum, dark red-
brown during their first season, becoming nearly glabrous before winter, and much darker
in their second year. Bark of the trunk dark, rough, separating freely into small thin
scales.
Distribution. Summits of the low mountains of central Alabama; rare and local.
17. Prunus australis Beadl. Wild Cherry.
Leaves obovate, oval or elliptic, gradually narrowed and obtusely short-pointed or some-
times acute at apex, rounded or occasionally cuneate at the narrowed base, and finely serrate
with slender teeth tipped with minute dark red glands, when they unfold membranaceous,
Fig. 530
pale yellow-green and glabrous above, with the exception of occasional pale hairs along the
midrib, and coated below 7 with pale or ferrugineous pubescence, and at maturity thin but
firm, dark dull green above, covered below 7 with rufous hairs most abundant on the thin
broad midrib, and on the slender primary veins extending nearly to the margins of the leaf,
conspicuously reticulate-venulose, 2|'-4' long and 1^'-2|' wide; petioles rusty-tomen-
tose, biglandular at apex witji large dark glarids, about \' in length; stipules linear to linear-
lanceolate, glandular, bright rose color, \'-\' long. Flowers probably opening toward the
end of April, on short pedicels from the axils of minute rose-colored caducous bracts, in
slender spreading hoary-pubescent racemes 3'-4' long; the expanded flowers not known.
Fruit ripening and falling late in July, on pedicels \' long, globose, surrounded at base by the
calyx-lobes and remnants of the stamens, dark purple when fully ripe, and about \' in
diameter, with thin flesh; stone ovoid, compressed, rounded at base, pointed at apex, about
' long and broad, ridged on the ventral suture, with a low broad ridge, slightly grooved
on the dorsal suture.
A tree, sometimes 60 tall, with a trunk 12'-16' in diameter, spreading or ascending
branches forming an oblong head, and slender branchlets coated at first with pale pubes-
cence, becoming puberulous, dull red-brown, and roughened by numerous small pale ele-
vated lenticels at the end of their first season, and glabrous or puberulous in their second
.578
TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
year. Winter-buds ovoid, obtuse, about T V long, with acute dark red-bro\vn glabrous
scales. Bark of young stems and of the branches thin, silvery gray, and roughened by long
horizontal lenticels, becoming on older trunks -|' thick, ashy gray or brownish black, deeply
fissured and broken into thick persistent platelike scales.
Distribution. Clay soil at Evergreen, Conecut County, Alabama; common.
18. Prunus virens Shrive. Wild Cherry.
Padus virens Woot. & Stanl.
Prunus serotina, ed. 1, in so far as relates to western Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
Leaves elliptic, ovate or rarely slightly obovate, acute, rounded or occasionally acumi-
nate or abruptly narrowed into a short obtuse point at apex, rounded or broad-cuneate at
base, finely crenately serrate, glabrous, light green and lustrous on the upper surface,
Fig. 531
lighter green and glabrous on the lower surface, l^'-2' long and f'-l' wide, with a
slender midrib, thin veins and reticulate veinlets; petioles slender, glabrous or rarely
slightly villose, without glands, \'-\' in length. Flowers appearing when the leaves
are nearly fully grown from the first to the middle of May, I' in diameter, on slender gla-
brous pedicels, in erect or spreading many-flowered glabrous or puberulous racemes
3'-6' long; -calyx-tube saucer-shaped, glabrous, T 3 / wide, persistent under the fruit, the
lobes short-pointed, acute, persistent; petals broad-obovate, pure white. Fruit ripening in
August and September, in erect or spreading racemes, subglobose to short-oblong, purplish
black and lustrous at maturity, \'-\' in diameter, with thin juicy acrid flesh; stone com-
pressed, slightly obovoid \' in diameter, with a low broad ridge on the ventral suture, and
rounded on the dorsal suture.
A tree in sheltered canons sometimes 25-30 high, with a trunk 18' or 20' in diame-
ter, small, usually drooping or occasionally wide-spreading branches, and slender glabrous
red-brown pendulous branchlets marked by small pale lenticels, becoming gray-brown in
their second year; on open mountain slopes a shrub with numerous erect stems and usually
smaller leaves. Winter-buds acute or acuminate, T y~|' long, with slightly villose red-
brown scales. Bark near the base of old trunks \' thick, nearly black, deeply fissured and
broken on the surface into thin persistent scales, higher on the trunk and on small stems
thin, smooth, reddish or gray-brown, lustrous and marked by many narrow oblong pale
horizontal lenticels.
Distribution. Guadalupe Mountains, western Texas, over the mountain ranges of
southern New Mexico and Arizona, extending northward in Arizona to the canons of the
ROSACES
579
Colorado plateau south of the Colorado River; widely and generally distributed at alti-
tudes between 5000 and 8000, but nowhere abundant. Passing into var. rufula Sarg.,
differing in the rusty brown pubescence on the lower side of the midrib of the leaves, in the
pubescent petiole and lower part of the rachis, in the puberulous ovary, and in the rusty
brown pubescence of the young branchlets.
Distribution. With the species on many of the mountain ranges of southern New Mex-
ico and Arizona at altitudes between 5400 and 6000.
19. Prunus caroliniana Ait. Wild Orange. Mock Orange.
Leaves oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, mucronate, with entire thickened slightly re volute
margins, or rarely remotely spinulose-serrate, glabrous, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous
on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, 2'-4|' long and i'-l-|' wide, and obscurely
veined, with a narrow pale midrib; persistent until their second year; petioles stout, broad,
orange-colored; stipules foliaceous, lanceolate, acuminate. Flowers appearing from Feb-
ruary to April, on slender pedicels about \' long, from the axils of long-acuminate scarious
red-tipped bracts, in dense racemes shorter than leaves; calyx-tube narrow-obconic, the
lobes small, thin, rounded, undulate on the margins, reflexed after the flowers open, decidu-
ous; petals boat-shaped, minute, cream-colored; stamens exserted, orange-colored, with
glabrous filaments and large pale anthers; ovary gradually narrowed into a slender erect
style enlarged above into a club-shaped stigma. Fruit ripening in the autumn, remaining
on the branches until after the flowering period of the following year, oblong, short-pointed,
black and lustrous, \' long, with a thick skin, and thin dry flesh; stone short-ovoid, pointed,
nearly cylindric, about \' long, full and rounded at base, with thin fragile walls, obscurely
ridged on the ventral suture and deeply grooved on the dorsal suture.
A tree, 30-40 high, with a straight or inclining trunk sometimes 10' in diameter, slender
horizontal branches forming a narrow oblong or sometimes a broad head, and glabrous
branchlets marked by occasional pale lenticels, slightly angled, at first light green, becom-
ing bright red, and in the second season light brown or gray. Winter-buds acuminate, '
Fig. 532
long, covered with narrow pointed dark chestnut-brown scales rounded on the back. Bark
about \' thick, gray, smooth or slightly roughened by longitudinal fissures, and marked by
large irregular dark blotches. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light red-brown or
sometimes rich dark brown, with thick lighter colored sapwood. The partially withered
leaves and young branches are often fatal to animals browsing upon them, owing to the
considerable quantities of hydrocyanic acid which they contain.
580 TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
Distribution. Deep rich moist bottom-lands; valley of the Cape Fear River, North
Carolina, to the shores of Bay Biscayne and the valley of the Kissimee River, Florida, and
through southern Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana to the valley of the Guadalupe
River, Texas; in Bermuda; in the Atlantic and eastern Gulf states usually only in the im-
mediate neighborhood of the sea, rarely ranging inland more than fifteen or twenty miles;
common along the borders of hummocks in the center of the Florida peninsula and a char-
acteristic tree on those in the region of Lake Apopka, Orange County; in Alabama ranging
inland to Dallas County (Pleasant Hill, T. B. Harbison) ; most abundant and of its largest
size in the valleys of eastern Texas, and here often forming great impenetrable thickets.
Often cultivated in the southern states as an ornamental plant and to form hedges; and
when cultivated occasionally 50-60 high, with a trunk 3 in diameter.
20. Prunus myrtifolia Urb.
Prunus sphcerocarpa Sw.
Leaves elliptic to oblong-ovate, gradually or abruptly contracted into a broad obtuse
point, or less commonly rounded or rarely emarginate at apex, cuneate at base, entire, with
Fig. 533
slightly thickened undulate margins, glabrous, eglandular, subcoriaceous, yellow-green and
lustrous on the upper surface, paler on the lower surface, obscurely veined, 2'-4^' long and
I'-l?' wide; persistent; petioles slender, orange-brown, \' to 1' in length; stipules folia-
ceous, lanceolate, acuminate, entire, \' long, early deciduous. Flowers opening in Florida
in November, f ' in diameter, on thin orange-colored pedicels \'-\' long, in slender many-
flowered erect racemes shorter than the leaves; calyx-tube obconic, bright orange-colored
on the outer surface, marked by an orange band in the throat, the lobes thin, minute, acute,
laciniate on the margins, deciduous, much shorter than the obovate rounded or acuminate
white petals marked with yellow on the inner surface toward the base, contracted below
into a short claw, reflexed at maturity; stamens exserted, with slender orange-colored subu-
late filaments and small yellow anthers; ovary sessile, contracted into a short stout style,
terminating in a large club-shaped stigma. Fruit produced in Florida very sparingly,
ripening either in the spring or early summer, subglobose to short-oblong, apiculate,
orange-brown, \'-\' long, with thin dry flesh; stone thin-walled, cylindric, slightly nar-
rowed at apex, and obscurely ridged on the ventral suture.
A glabrous tree, in Florida rarely 30-40 high, with a trunk 5'-6' in diameter, thin
upright branches and slender orange-brown branchlets, becoming ashy gray or light brown
tinged with red and marked by small circular pale lenticels. Bark of the trunk thin, smooth
ROSACES
581
or slightly reticulate-fissured, light brown tinged with red. Wood heavy, hard, closer
grained, light clear red, with thick pale sapw r ood.
Distribution. Florida, rich hummock land, occasionally in the neighborhood of small
streams and ponds near the shore of Bay Biscayne and on Long Key in the Everglades,
Dade County; through the West Indies to Brazil.
21 . Prunus ilicifolia Walp. Islay
Leaves ovate to ovate-lanceolate, acute, rounded or emarginate at apex, narrowed and
rounded or truncate at base, with thickened coarsely spinosely toothed margins, the stout
teeth near the base of the leaf often tipped with large dark glands, thick and coriaceous,
dark green and lustrous above, paler and yellow-green below, l'-2f long, and I'-l^'
wide, with a slender yellow midrib and obscure veins; deciduous during their second
summer; petioles broad, -i' |' in length; stipules acuminate, obscurely denticulate, |' long.
Flowers opening from March to May, $' in diameter, on short slender pedicels from the axils
of acuminate scarious bracts in length and mostly deciduous before the opening of the
flower-buds, in slender erect racemes l|'-3' long; calyx-tube cup-shaped, orange-brown,
the lobes minute, acuminate, reflexed at maturity, deciduous, about one third as long as the
obovate white petals rounded above and narrowed below into a short claw; stamens
slightly exserted, with slender incurved filaments and minute yellow anthers; ovary sessile,
abruptly contracted into a slender style usually bent near the summit at a right angle or
rarely erect, and surmounted by a large orbicular stigma. Fruit ripening in November and
December, subglobose, often compressed, \'-\' in diameter, dark red when fully grown,
purple or sometimes nearly black at maturity, w r ith thin slightly acid astringent flesh; stone
ovoid slightly compressed, \'-\' long, short-pointed at apex, with thin brittle walls, light
yellow-brown, conspicuously marked by reticulate orange-colored vein-like lines and with
3 orange bands radiating from the base to the apex along one suture, and with a single
narrow band along the other suture.
A glabrous tree, 20-30 high, with a trunk rarely 2 in diameter or more than 10-12
long, stout spreading branches forming a dense compact head, and branchlets-at first yel-
Fig. 534
low-green or orange color, soon becoming gray or reddish brown and more or less conspicu-
ously marked by minute pale lenticels, and in their second or third years by the large leaf-
scars; usually much smaller and often a shrub sometimes only a foot or two high. Winter-
buds acuminate, with dark red scales contracted into a long slender point, those of the inner
ranks accrescent and persistent on the young branchlets until these have reached a length
of several inches. Bark \'-\' thick, dark red-brown, and divided by deep fissures into
584
TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
.small square plates. Wood heavy, hard, strong, close-grained, light red-brown, with thin
lighter colored sapwood of 8-10 layers of annual growth; occasionally used for fuel.
Distribution. Borders of streams and moist sandy soil in the bottoms of canons, and as a
low shrub on dry hillsides and mesas from Solano County and the shores of the Bay of San
Francisco southward through the coast ranges of California to the foothills of the San
Bernardino Mountains, and the valley of the San Jacinto River; in Lower California
southward to the western slopes of the San Pedro Martir Mountains.
Generally cultivated as an ornamental plant in California ami occasionally in western
and southern Europe.
22. Primus Lyonii Sarg.
Primus integrifolia Sarg.
Leaves ovate to lanceolate, acuminate or abruptly narrowed into a short point at apex,
cuneate, truncate or rounded at base, with thickened revolute undulate entire or occasion-
ally, especially on vigorous shoots, remotely and minutely spinulose-dentate margins, gla-
Fig. 535
brous, coriaceous, dark green and lustrous above, paler below, reticulate-venulose, 2'-3'
long and -|'-2f' wide, with a stout midrib and obscure veins; persistent; petioles stout,
yellow, $'-' in length. Flowers appearing from March to June, about \' in diameter, on
slender pedicels from the axils of acuminate caducous bracts, in crowded many-flowered
glabrous racemes 3 '-4' long; calyx-tube cup-shaped, orange-brown, the lobes acute, apicu-
late, reflexed after the flowers open, deciduous, about one third as long as the obovate petals
rounded and undulate above and narrowed below into a short claw; stamens slightly ex-
serted, with incurved filaments and small yellow anthers; ovary raised on a short stipe, the
style bent near the apex and terminating in a large orbicular stigma. Fruit ripening late in
the autumn, on stout pedicels, in drooping few-fruited racemes, subglobose to short-oblong,
dark purple or nearly black at maturity, \'-\\' in diameter, with thick luscious flesh some-
times \' thick; stone ovoid to obovoid, slightly compressed, thin-walled, about f ' long,
pointed at apex, pale yellow-brown, conspicuously marked by reticulate orange-colored
lines, and by 3 dark bands radiating from base to apex along one suture, and by a single
narrow line on the other suture.
A bushy tree, sometimes 25-30 high, with one or several stout erect or spreading stems
l-3 in diameter, spreading branches forming a broad compact head, and stout branchlets
light yellow-green when they first appear, becoming light and ultimately dark reddish
brown, and much roughened by the large elevated leaf-scars. Winter-buds acute or ob-
KOSACE^E
583
tuse, with dark red scales. Bark of the trunk \'-\' thick and dark reddish brown. Wood
heavy, hard, very close-grained, pale reddish brown, with hardly distinguishable sapwood.
Distribution. Islands of southern California, in all situations from the fertile valleys
and canons at the water's edge up to altitudes of 3000 on the dry interior ridges; hi Lower
California.
11. CHRYSOBALANUS L.
Trees or shrubs, with stout branchlets covered with pale lenticels, and fibrous roots.
Leaves alternate, entire, coriaceous, short-petiolate, persistent; stipules minute, deciduous.
Flowers perfect, short-pedicellate, small, creamy white, in axillary or terminal dichoto-
mously branched slender canescent cymes, with conspicuous deciduous bracts; calyx turbi-
nate-campanulate, 5-lobed, the lobes imbricated in the bud, without bracts, deciduous;
disk thin, adnate to the calyx-tube; petals 5, alternate with the lobes of the calyx, spatulate,
deciduous; stamens (in the arborescent species) indefinite in a single continuous series, in-
serted with the petals on the margin of the disk; filaments filiform, hairy, free or slightly
united at base; anthers ovoid, ovary sessile in the bottom of the calyx-tube, pubescent or
glabrous, 1-celled; style rising from the base of the ovary, filiform, terminated by a minute
truncate stigma ; ovules 2, collateral, ascending; raphe dorsal ; the micropyle inferior. Fruit
a fleshy 1-seeded drupe with pulpy flesh, a coriaceous or crustaceous stone 5 or 6-angled
toward the base and imperfectly 5 or 6-valved, the valves reticulate- veined. Seed erect:
seed-coat chartaceous, light brown; embryo filling the cavity of the seed; cotyledons thick
and fleshy; radicle inferior, very short.
Chrysobalanus is represented in the south Atlantic states by a shrubby species confined
to the coast region from Georgia to Alabama, and by an arborescent species, an inhabitant
of the shores of southern Florida, and widely distributed through the maritime regions of
tropical America, and found in various forms on the coast of western tropical Africa. The
insipid fruit of the arborescent species is eaten by negroes; the seeds contain a considerable
quantity of oil; and the astringent bark, leaves and roots have been used in medicine.
The generic name is from xP Vff ^ and ftd\avos, in allusion to the supposed golden fruit of
one of the species.
1. Chrysobalanus icacoL. Cocoa Plum.
Leaves broad-elliptic or round-obovate, rounded or slightly emarginate at apex, cuceate
Fig. 536
at base, glabrous, coriaceous, obscurely reticulate-veined, dark green and lustrous on the
upper surface, light yellow-green on the lower surface, l'-3^' long and l'-2' wide, with a
584
TREES OF NORTH AMERICA
broad conspicuous midrib rounded on the upper side and thin primary veins, standing on
the branches at an acute angle and appearing to be pressed against them; petioles stout,
!'- i' in length; stipules acuminate, ' long. Flowers |' long, on short thick club-shaped
hoary-tomentose pedicels, in cymes l'-2' in length; appearing in Florida continuously dur-
ing the spring and summer months on the growing branches; calyx hoary-tomentose, the
lobes nearly triangular, acute, more or less pubescent on the inner surface and about half as
long as the narrow white petals; ovary hoary-pubescent; style long and slender, clothed
nearly to the apex with pale hairs. Fruit nearly globose or oval-ovoid, H'-lf ' in diameter,
with a smooth bright pink, yellow, or creamy white skin, white sweet juicy flesh often -'
thick, and more or less adherent to the stone rounded at base, acute or acuminate at apex,
5 or 6-angled below the middle, about a' long and twice as long as broad, indehiscent or
finally separating into 5 or 6 valves, the walls composed of a thin red-brown dry outer layer
and a thick interior layer of hard woody fibre; seed-coat lined with a thick white reticulated
fibrous coat.
Usually a broad shrub 10-12 high, forming dense thickets, with erect branches and
dark red-brown branchlets thickly covered for four or five years with lenticels, occasionally
on the borders of low hummocks arborescent with reclining or rarely erect stems 20-30
long and 1 in diameter, or on the margins of ocean beaches often not more than 1 or 2
tall. Bark dark red-brown and scaly, separating into long thin scales. Wood heavy,
hard, strong, close-grained, light brown often tinged with red, with thin lighter colored sap-
wood of about 10 layers of annual growth.
Distribution. Florida, saline shores, river banks and low hummocks. Cape Canaveral to
Bay Biscayne, and on the west coast from the mouth of the Caloosahatchie River to the
southern keys; through the West Indies to southern Brazil, and on the tropical west
coast of Africa. Passing into
Chrysobalanus icaco var. pellocarpa DC.
Differing from the type in its rather larger leaves spreading and less crowded on the
branches, its oblong to oblong-obovoid dark purple or nearly black usually rather smaller
fruit, and in its long-acuminate and more prominently angled stone.
A tree, 20-30 or rarely 50 high, with an erect trunk 12'-16' in diameter, erect and
Fig. 537
spreading branches forming a wide open head, and slender branchlets marked by scattered
pale lenticels; often smaller and occasionally a shrub. Bark gray slightly tinged with red
and covered with small closely appressed scales.
LEGUMINOS.E 585
Distribution. Florida, banks o streams and borders of the Everglades, near Little
River to the Everglade keys, Dade County; on the Bahama Islands and in Jamaica.
XXIH. LEGUMINOSJE.
Trees or shrubs, with alternate usually compound leaves, regular or papilionaceous usu-
ally perfect flowers; stamens 10 or indefinite, with diadelphous or distinct filaments and
2-celled anthers, the cells opening longitudinally; ovary superior, 1 or many-celled, in-
serted on the bottom of the calyx. Fruit a legume. Of the four hundred and thirty genera
of the Pea-family now recognized and widely distributed in all temperate and tropical re-
gions, eighteen have arborescent representatives in the United States.
CONSPECTUS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN ARBORESCENT GENERA.
Subfamily 1. MIMOSOIDE^E. Calyx 4-6-toothed, the teeth valvate in the bud; petals as
many as the teeth of the calyx, valvate in the bud; ovules numerous, suspended in 2
ranks from the inner angle of the ovary, superposed, anatropous, the micropyle supe-
rior; stamens much exserted; leaves twice pinnate; cotyledons oval or orbicular, flat;
radicle straight.
Stamens numerous (more than 10); seeds without albumen.
Filaments more or less united into a tube.
Filaments united.
Valves of the legume not separating at maturity from the margins.
1. Pithecolobium.
Valves of the legume separating at maturity from the persistent margins.
2. Lysiloma.
Filaments free or the inner ones slightly united at base. 3. Acacia.
Stamens 10; filaments free; seeds with albumen.
Legume piano-compressed, dehiscent; flow r ers in globose heads. 4. Leucsena.
Legume terete or compressed, indehiscent; flowers in cylindric spikes. 5. Prosopis.
Subfamily 2. C^SALPINIOID^E. Calyx 5-lobed or toothed, the divisions usually valvate in