Henry M. Brooks

“ Habit.—A small but handsome tree, 30-40 feet high, with a diameter of 1-2 feet. Trunk separating at a small height, occasionally a foot or two from the ground, into several wide-spreading branches, forming a broad, roundish, open head, characterized by lively green branchlets and foliage, delicate flowers and abundant, long, loose racemes of yellowish-green keys hanging till late autumn, the stems clinging throughout the winter. ”

“ Habit.—Usually a medium-sized tree, 30-50 feet in height, with a trunk diameter varying from 8 or 10 inches to 2 feet; attaining much greater dimensions in the middle and southern states; branches few, large, often tortuous, subdividing irregularly; head open, widest near the base, rather ungraceful when naked, but very attractive when clothed with bright green, polished foliage, profusely decked with white flowers, or laden with drooping racemes of handsome black fruit. ”

“ Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; grows well in any good soil, but prefers deep, rich, well-drained loam; usually obtainable in nurseries; when frequently transplanted, safely moved. Its clean trunk and limbs, deep shade, and freedom from insect pests make it one of the most attractive of our large trees for use, summer or winter, in landscape gardening; few plants, however, will grow beneath it; the bark is easily disfigured; it has a bad habit of throwing out suckers and is liable to be killed by any injury to the roots. ”

“ Habit.—A large tree, at its maximum in northern New England 60-90 feet high and 2-4 feet in diameter at the base. In the forest the main trunk separates at a considerable height into a few large branches which rise at a sharp angle, curving slightly, forming a rather small, irregular head, widest near the top; while in open ground the head is broad-spreading, hemispherical, with numerous rather equal, long and slender branches, and a fine spray with drooping tendencies. ”

“ Only those common names are given which are actually used in some part of New England, whether or not the same name is applied to different trees. It seems best to record what is, and not what ought to be. Common names that are the creation of botanists have been disregarded altogether. Any attempt to displace a name in wide use, even by one that is more appropriate, is futile, if not mischievous. ”

“ Inflorescence.—Flowers in June along the base of the season's shoots; sterile and fertile flowers usually on separate trees,—the sterile in loose, few-flowered clusters, the fertile mostly solitary; peduncles and pedicels slender, bracted midway; calyx persistent, with 4 pointed, ciliate teeth; corolla white, monopetalous, with 4 roundish, oblong divisions; stamens 4, alternating with and shorter than the lobes of the corolla in the fertile flowers, but longer in the sterile; ovary green, nearly cylindrical, surmounted by the sessile, 4-lobed stigma. ”

“ Habitat and Range.—Rhode Island,—occasional but doubtfully native; Connecticut,—at Lighthouse Point, New Haven, near the East Haven boundary line, there is a grove consisting of about one hundred twenty-five small trees not more than a hundred feet from the water's edge, in sandy soil just [Pg 161] above the beach grass, exposed to the buffeting of fierce winds and the incursions of salt water, which comes up around them during the heavy winter storms. These trees are not in thriving condition; several are dead or dying, and no new plants are springing up to take their places. ”

“ Horticultural Value.--A beautiful tree, requiring cold winters for its finest development, the best of our New England spruces for ornamental and forest plantations in the northern sections; grows rapidly in moist or well-drained soils, in open sun or shade, and in exposed situations. The foliage is sometimes infested by the red spider. ”

“ The leaves are of two kinds, primary and secondary; the primary are thin, deciduous scales, in the axils of which the secondary leaf-buds stand; the inner scales of those leaf-buds form a loose, deciduous sheath which encloses the secondary or foliage leaves, which in our species are all minutely serrulate.
Pinus Strobus, L. White Pine.
Habitat and Range.—In fertile soils; moist woodlands or dry uplands.
Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, through Quebec and Ontario, to Lake Winnipeg.
New England,—common, from the vicinity of the seacoast to altitudes of 2500 feet, forming extensive forests. ”

“ Fruit.—A berry, ripe in late fall, roundish, about an inch in diameter, larger farther south, with thick, spreading, persistent calyx, yellow to yellowish-brown, very astringent when immature, edible and agreeable to the taste after exposure to the frost; several-seeded.
Horticultural Value.—Hardy along the south shore of New England; prefers well-drained soil in open situations; free from disfiguring enemies; occasionally cultivated in nurseries but difficult to transplant. ”