=Remarks.=--The wood is tougher but in most qualities is inferior to
white ash and cannot be used for handles. The layers of growth separate
easily which enables the wood to be separated into thin strips. This
fact was known to the Indians who used this wood for making baskets.
This use was continued by the white man and in addition it was a
favorite wood for making hoops, and in many sections it is known as the
"hoop ash." The wood has many uses such as for baskets, splint boxes,
butter tubs, vehicle stock, interior finish, furniture, etc. The black
burls of the trunk are much sought for by veneer manufacturers.
=2. ADÈLIA.=
=Adèlia acuminàta Michaux.= Pond Brush. Crooked Brush, Plate 131. Small
trees, or shrub like, with gray smooth bark, becoming rough or fissured
on large trees, the ridges short and broken; branchlets numerous and
somewhat spiny; twigs glabrous; leaves opposite on petioles about 1 cm.
long, ovate to elliptic-ovate, 4-11 cm. long, with a long narrow base,
long acuminate at the apex, margins entire near the base, the remainder
more or less coarsely serrated with short rounded teeth, rarely entire,
smooth above and beneath; flowers appear last of March to the first of
May, the staminate in small sessile clusters along the branchlets, the
pistillate in short panicles; fruit a dark purple drupe, oblong, about
15 mm. long; stone with many longitudinal ribs.
=Distribution.=--Southwestern Indiana and southern Illinois south to
northern Florida and Texas. In Indiana it has been found only in Knox,
Gibson, Posey and Perry Counties. It grows on the low borders of river
sloughs, swamps and river banks. It is very tolerant of shade and may be
found growing under larger trees. It usually forms dense thickets on the
bank that surrounds standing water and is usually associated with
button-bush. A straight specimen is rarely seen because the area where
it grows overflows each winter, and the small trees are usually covered
more or less with debris, and then the following season the side
branches assume a vertical growth. The top may be released by the next
inundation, and then other branches may assume leadership, and so on
until the top is a mass of branches growing in several directions. The
specimens found in Perry County grew on the low bank of the Ohio River
about 6 miles east of Cannelton. The species is quite local in the area
where it is found. It may border one river slough, and be entirely
absent from another nearby.
=Remarks.=--Of no economic use. In books it is called "swamp privet" but
in the area where it grows it is not known by that name.
[Illustration: Plate 131.