THE BUTTONWOOD, THE TUPELO, AND THE MULBERRIES
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.
[Sidenote: 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”:—
[Illustration: BUTTONWOOD
_Platanus occidentalis_
Page 118
]
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: 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.
[Illustration: 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.
[Sidenote: 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.
[Illustration: RED MULBERRY
_Morus rubra_
Page 123
]
[Sidenote: 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.
[Sidenote: 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.
[Illustration: 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.