In March and April, in concealed spots, the sweet-scentedVioletblows (Viola odorata), filling the air with its sweet fragrance every morning. TheAnemone(Anemone nemerosa) raises its white flower, tinged with red, from the midst of three large green leaves. TheWood-sorrel(Oxalis acetosella), sends out from its root graceful trifoliate leaves and white blooms traversed by violet veins. In the hedges and bushes, also, we meet with theArum(Arum maculatum), the common wake-robin or lords and ladies. On closely observing this plant, we shall find rather deep in the earth a tuberous root as large as a walnut, from which spring three or four long-stalked, bright leaves. Between the leaves a smooth stem arises six to nine inches high, which bears at its upper end the blossoms, surrounded by a greenish sheath. The arum has acrid properties, but its corm yields Portland sago or arrowroot. In the vicinity of this plant we also find theValerian(Valeriana officinalis), the root of which possesses healing properties. It contains an oil, which is used as a remedy for cramp.
The uniform green which covers the meadows all the year round is agreeably relieved by a large[158]number of plants with colored flowers. Here blooms the sky-blueGentian(Gentiana verna), which delights both the eye and the heart. There the beautiful blue bells of theCampanula(Campanula Rapunculus) raise their heads, together with the violet flowers of theScabious(Scabiosa pratensis), and the numerous bloom-whorls of the meadowSage(Salvia pratensis). Between these can be seen the red and white heads of the meadow and whiteClover(Trifolia pratensisandT. repens); and from a distance we can recognize the smallDaisy(Bellis perennis), the similar but larger Dog Daisy (Chrysanthemum leucanthemum), the yellowMeadow Sweet(Tragopogon pratensis), and theDandelion(Taraxacum officinale). In these the fructification is carried out by insects; but, as the single flowers are so small that they would be overlooked by the insects, Nature has arranged many of them in the form of a small chalice or cup, which can be seen from afar, especially in those cases where the radiating petals are different in color from the sepals, like those in the dog daisies. Many meadow plants grow with their stalks and blooms high over their neighbors, as though they were the lords of the meadows.
In these the flowers are very small; but as they are united in large numbers in flat umbals, they show up well. On the dry ridges blooms thePlantain(Plantago), which has good healing properties; and the wildThyme(Thymus Serpylum), a graceful plant, which is sometimes made into tea, and is frequently placed in children’s baths. The shape of its blooms shows it to be a member of the family of the labiate flowers, to which belongs also the meadow sage.
Another large natural family of plants, the milkworts, have a pretty representative in the meadows in theCuckoo-flower(Cardamine pratensis). Its leaves are pennate, and the lilac-colored flowers contain four large and two short stamens; the fruit is a pod. Upon woody pastures we also often find theOrchis(Orchis Morio). From the two oval tubers a stem arises enclosed in sheath-like leaves. At the top of the stem are the curiously formed flowers, which are fructified by insects in a very peculiar and striking manner. The somewhat unattractiveSour-Sorrel(Rumex Acetosa), Fig. 13, is well known, and its soft stem and juicy leaves are sometimes eaten by children. The leaves are arrow-shaped; the small flowers are reddish in color.
Here we meet, besides old acquaintances from the meadows, theGroundsel(Senecio vulgaris) and theChickweed(Stellaria media), both valued as birds’ food, and common everywhere; theShepard’s Pouch(Capsella Bursa pastoris), easily recognized by its almost three-cornered little pods, and blooming, like the groundsel, nearly all the year round; the white, spotted, and purpleBlind-Nettles(Lamium album,L. maculatum, andL. purpureum), and theOriganum(Origanum vulgare), are labiate flowers, which are diligently visited by insects for their honey. Here, too, are the bristly, blue-floweredAdder-Wort(Echium vulgare); the round-leavedMallow(Malva rotundifolia); theBurdock(Lappa major), the blossoms of which cling to the clothes so readily; the commonNettles(Urtica); and theTansy.
Several plants grow amid the corn which are really ornamental with their bright flowers. A very pretty example is the larkspur (Delphinium Consolida), a small graceful little plant, with numerous blue spur-like flowers. Near the latter we also find the blueCornflower(Centaurea Cyanus), which is so frequently plucked by children and woven into wreaths.
TheCamomile(Matricaria Chamomilla), is recognized by its strong odor. It has a small chalice with white petals, and is an important medicinal plant. TheCorn-cockle(Agrostemma Githago) and the redPoppy(Papaver Rhœas) are also seen; and at the time when the wind sweeps over the field of stubble the latter is adorned with the wildPansy(Viola tricolor), the leaves and flowers of which have healing properties, and are collected for medicinal uses.
The Cryptogams are plants without true, or without visible flowers; to these belong the shave grasses, the ferns, the mosses, the algæ, the lichens, and the fungi.
TheHorse-tail(Equisetum arvense), frequently grows in damp, sandy fields. The spring stem of the plant is simple and reddish in color, and bears fruit called spores in an upright ear.
TheWall Rue(Asplenium Ruta muraria), belongs to the family of ferns. It grows everywhere on walls, and has a short root, three-cornered leaves, and along both sides of the middle ribs of the leaves the fruit lies in rows.
TheCommon Fern(Polypodium vulgare), grows on walls and rocks. It has a creeping stem, and beautiful serrated leaves, bearing on their underside the somewhat large fruit glands which contain the spores. Other familiar ferns are theWorm Fern(Aspidium Filix mas), and theEagle Fern(Pteris Aquilina), from three to five feet high.
TheCommon Hair Moss(Polytrichum commune), grows in all the woods and in wet fields. The stem is upright; the small leaves are pointed and serrated at their edges. The spores develop in a quadrangular sheath, which is surrounded by a cell. The mosses play an important part in the economy of Nature; they retain in the woods a quantity of the water which falls as rain, and thus preserve the lands from being flooded, store up moisture for the plants, and also influence the climatic conditions of a country. The so-calledPeat-moss(Sphagnum) enters largely into the composition of peat.
TheReindeer Moss(Cladonia rangiferina), is a much-branched little plant of a greyish color. The small fruit corpuscles are at the ends of the branches. The reindeer moss is common in the pine woods of northern Europe.
TheToad’s-stool(Agricus muscarius), grows in the woods in autumn. The blood-red cap has numerous white excrescences on its surface. It is very poisonous and ill-smelling, and has a bitter taste. It is often used as a poison for flies, but is also dangerous to men and animals.
TheMushroom(Agricus campestris), is common from May to October in fields, gardens, and meadows. It has lately also been cultivated in cellars and greenhouses. It is a favorite article of food, and one of the most useful of the edible fungi.
CAMPHOR TREE(Cinnamomum camphora), one of the most beautiful of all trees, grows in China and Japan, more especially in the island of Formosa. It has also been planted in Ceylon and Florida. The wood of the tree is valued by the cabinet maker, but its chief value is in the solid, essential oil, calledgum camphor, extracted from it by a process of distillation. When pure, camphor is a white, soft semi-transparent body, with a peculiarly strong aromatic odor, and a bitter, burning taste. It is used extensively in making celluloid and smokeless powder, in medicine and as a protection against insects. Nine-tenths of the world’s supply of raw material is exported from Formosa. Its production is a monopoly of the Japanese government.
CAMPHOR TREE(Cinnamomum camphora), one of the most beautiful of all trees, grows in China and Japan, more especially in the island of Formosa. It has also been planted in Ceylon and Florida. The wood of the tree is valued by the cabinet maker, but its chief value is in the solid, essential oil, calledgum camphor, extracted from it by a process of distillation. When pure, camphor is a white, soft semi-transparent body, with a peculiarly strong aromatic odor, and a bitter, burning taste. It is used extensively in making celluloid and smokeless powder, in medicine and as a protection against insects. Nine-tenths of the world’s supply of raw material is exported from Formosa. Its production is a monopoly of the Japanese government.
The forest trees are divided into two groups: Trees Bearing Foliage, and Trees with Aciculous Leaves. The former lose their leaves in autumn; the stiff linear leaves of the latter, on the contrary, live throughout the winter, with the exception of those of the larch tree.
Alder(Alnus), trees native to the North Temperate and Arctic zones and to the Andes into Chili. The Black Alder grows near the brooks. The male blossoms stand in long, cylindrical catkins; the female blossoms in small, roundish catkins. The fruit is found in small cones. The alder tree blossoms in April and May. It may reach seventy feet in height and nine in girth, but seldom exceeds forty in height. The bark of the shoots is used in tanning and dyeing leather red, brown, yellow, or, with copperas, black. The wood is durable under water, and is said by Virgil to have been the first wood used by man for boats. It was used for piles at Ravenna and for the Rialto at Venice, and is still so employed in Holland. Its chief use is for gunpowder-charcoal. For this purpose shoots five or six years old, or about four inches across, are employed.
Ash(Fraxinus), a valuable timber-tree belonging to the olive tribe. It has smooth, olive-grey bark, black buds, opposite pinnate leaves of from seven to fifteen leaflets, flowers without calyx or corolla, and an oblong-winged fruit. Its wood is more flexible than that of any other European tree, and is used for walking-sticks, spade-handles, the spokes and felloes of wheels, etc. There are about twelve species native to North America. The best known are:Common Ash, a large tree one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet high, growing wild in southern Europe and northern Asia.White Ash, a large tree forty-five to ninety feet high; Nova Scotia to Florida, westward to Minnesota and Texas.Green Ash, forty to fifty feet high, Vermont to Florida, intermittently to Utah and Arizona.Red Ash, a small tree, rarely more than forty feet high, growing in moist soil from New Brunswick to South Dakota, Florida, Alabama and Missouri.Blue Ash, fifty to seventy-five feet high, Ontario, Minnesota, and Michigan to Alabama, west to Iowa and Arkansas.BlackorHoop Ash, a large tree, seventy to eighty feet high, Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Virginia and Arkansas.
Aspen or Trembling Poplar(Populus tremula), has a greenish-grey bark. Its leaves have long stalks, and tremble at the slightest current of air. TheAmerican AspencalledQuaking AspenorQuaking Asp, is one of the most widely distributed trees of North America, growing from Alaska and Newfoundland to lower California. A slender tree with light green bark, maximum height 100 feet. Wood soft, light, and largely used for manufacture of wood pulp. TheEuropean Aspenis a quick growing tree, fifty to eighty feet high. The wood is soft and porous, and is used in turnery and in interior finish for houses.
Beech(Fagus), a genus containing about sixteen species. The trees have smooth, silver-grey trunks, egg-shaped leaves like leather, and blossoms at the base of the leaves. The beechnuts are three-cornered; they grow in couples in a wooden capsule. The beech trees attain a height of from sixty to ninety feet, and blossom in April and May. TheAmerican Beechis the only North American species. It is a beautiful tree seventy to eighty and sometimes one hundred feet high, and is one of the most widely distributed trees of eastern North America. The wood is tough, close grained, and is largely used in the manufacture of tool handles, chairs and for fuel. TheCommon Beech, forming pure forests in many parts of Europe, is a large tree one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet high. The wood is dark colored, solid, and very durable under water and is much used in cabinet making, for weirs, and for fuel. The bark is sometimes used in tanning. The nuts are used for the manufacture of beech oil.
Birch(Betula), is known by all on account of its chalk-white bark, and its fine, pendent leaves. The male and female blossoms of this tree also grow separate on the same plant. Its seeds are small and plumed, whereby they are particularly adapted for being sown by the aid of the wind. There are about thirteen species in North America.Common Birch, abounding in northern Europe, is a beautiful tree sixty to seventy feet high. The bark is used in medicine and dyeing, and it yields the birch tar employed in the preparation of Russia leather.RedorRiver Birchgrows in the United States from Massachusetts to Iowa and Kansas, south to Florida and Texas. It is a slender tree, seventy to ninety feet high, which produces a hard, valuable timber.Cherry BlackorSweet Birchis a large tree, sometimes eighty feet high. Wood fine grained and valuable for making furniture. The bark yields an oil identical with the oil of wintergreen. It grows from Newfoundland to western Ontario, Florida, and Tennessee.Yellow Birch, a large tree, maximum height one hundred feet, is used in shipbuilding. It grows from Newfoundland to Manitoba, south to Carolina and Tennessee.PaperorCanoe Birch, a large tree, maximum height eighty feet, is of a beautiful white color, and the bark is capable of division into thin sheets, used for making canoes, baskets, and ornaments. Found in Newfoundland to Alaska, northern Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Washington.
Buttonwood.SeePlane Tree.
Cedar(Cedrus), the popular name of a variety of trees, mostly agreeing in having a reddish-brown aromatic wood. The coniferous genus includes only four forms, all native to the Old World, the most noted of which are the Cedars of Lebanon, frequently mentioned in the Bible. It has its needle-like leaves fascicled, like the larches; but unlike those trees, evergreen, so that they remain on the tree for several years after the dwarf-shoot has elongated. Its cones are erect, with broad, thin-edged scales which ultimately fall away from the axis, as in the firs. TheWhite Cedarof the United States is more nearly a cypress, and the so-calledRed Cedaris a juniper. The wood of the latter is used in making lead-pencils. The species native to the West Indies, yields the wood known as Honduras, Jamaica, or Barbadoes cedar, used for cigar boxes.
Chestnut(Castanea vulgaris), is a fine tree that may reach a large size, and has deeply furrowed bark and large, glossy, serrate but simple leaves in tufts, which turn yellow in autumn. Its flowers are in long pendulous catkins. The dark brown nuts are surmounted by the remains of the perianth, being “inferior” fruits. In a wild state two or three kernels or seeds, separated by a membrane, are contained in each nut; but the Lyons marron, the most valued cultivated race, contains only one. The tree is native from Portugal to the Caspian and in Algeria, and is represented by allied forms in Japan and temperate North America, flourishing in the Alps and Pyrenees at 2,500 to 2,800 feet above sea-level. Its timber resembles oak, but is softer and more brittle.
HOW WE MAY KNOW THE TREES OF THE FOREST
THE OAKMassive strength is the chief characteristic of the oak, and it was the broad-based trunk of an oak that suggested the design for the first great lighthouse. The branches twist about in zig-zag fashion, and the thick bark is deeply furrowed.THE BIRCHWe have only to glance at the birch to realize that its name “the lady of the woods” is well deserved. Its chief characteristic is slender gracefulness, and we cannot mistake the silvery white bark, quite unlike any other tree.
THE OAK
Massive strength is the chief characteristic of the oak, and it was the broad-based trunk of an oak that suggested the design for the first great lighthouse. The branches twist about in zig-zag fashion, and the thick bark is deeply furrowed.
THE BIRCH
We have only to glance at the birch to realize that its name “the lady of the woods” is well deserved. Its chief characteristic is slender gracefulness, and we cannot mistake the silvery white bark, quite unlike any other tree.
Cork Oak or Cork Tree(Quercus suber), is a species of oak, native of southern Europe and northern Africa, the spongy bark of which is the common cork of commerce. It ranges from twenty to forty feet in height, attains a diameter of five feet, and sometimes lives three hundred to five hundred years, producing crops of bark for one hundred and fifty years.
Cypress(Cupressus), is an evergreen tree of the pine family, with small, imbricated leaves and globular cones, comprising about twelve species, in northern regions of the world. TheCommon Cypressof Europe is famous for its durable wood and is believed to be the cedar or gopher wood of the Bible. TheMonterey Cypress, a beautiful tree sometimes one hundred and fifty feet high and eight or ten feet in diameter, grows near the sea in California and three others occur on the Pacific Coast. The so-calledCypressorWhite Cedarof the Eastern States, and theBald Cypressof southern swamps, valued for timber, are distant varieties of cypress.
Dogwood(Cornus), is a shrub or small tree, the wood of which is exceedingly hard and is used for many purposes. The astringent bark and sometimes the leaves are used in medicine. There are about eighteen species in the United States. TheFlowering Dogwoodis a small tree, native of the Eastern States. It has showy white petal-like bracts surrounding its clusters of small flowers.
Ebony(Efenaceæ), is chiefly a species of tropical trees. The hard, dark colored heartwood of these is the source of most of the ebony of commerce. Those of India, Ceylon, and other tropical countries, furnish the best quality.
Elm(Ulmus). There are about six species which are native to the United States. They attain a height of forty-five to ninety feet, and blossom before their leaves appear, in March and April. TheAmerican White Elmis a large tree ninety to one hundred feet high, growing from Newfoundland to Florida and Texas. The wood is tough, strong, and largely used for wheel hubs, in cooperage, and for shipbuilding. It is a fine street and park tree. TheCork Elmis a tree seventy to ninety feet high, growing from Quebec and Vermont westward to Nebraska and Tennessee. The wood is considered the best of American elms, and is much used for agricultural implements and bridge timbers. TheSlippery, orRed Elmis a tree sixty to seventy feet high, growing from Ontario to Florida, westward to Nebraska and Texas. The wood is durable in contact with the soil and is much used for fence posts and railway ties. The mucilaginous inner bark is used in medicine.
Eucalyptus, a genus ofMyrtaceæ, contains about two hundred lofty trees occurring chiefly in Australia and the Malayan Archipelago. Many reach a height of one hundred and fifty feet and a girth of twenty-five feet, and they frequently become hollow. The species are of great economic value, yielding oils, kinos, and useful timber, while the well-known oil of eucalyptus is obtained from the blue-gum tree.
Fir(Abies), a genus of the Pine family containing about twenty-five species, natives of the cooler portions of the north temperate zone. TheSilver Fir, is a common tree in central Europe, and is common to the mountainous forests of Germany. It reaches ninety to one hundred and thirty feet in height, and has a smooth, light silver-grey bark, and needle-shaped leaves, which, although they stand singly and in a spiral form round the branches, are yet distinctly turned towards two sides, and are serrated at their points. The large, conical fruits stand like tapers upright on the branches, and decay upon the tree; whilst their spindles remain standing. The wood of the white fir tree is much valued. It is used as timber, and in particular for making masts; it is also useful for making all kinds of carved work, and for the manufacture of musical instruments. It is also the source of the Strassburg turpentine. TheBalsam Firis a tree fifty to eighty feet high, growing from Virginia northward. Canada balsam is made from the sap. TheWhite FirorGreat Silver Firis a large tree, often three hundred feet high and ten feet in diameter, growing from British Columbia to lower California. The wood is soft and extensively used for cooperage and boxes. TheRed Firis a large tree one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet high, found in the same regions as the white fir. It is often planted in Europe as an ornamental tree. TheMexican Firis a magnificent silver-leaved tree one hundred and fifty feet high.
Gum.The name given to several trees in America and Australia: (a) TheBlack-Gum, one of the largest trees of the Southern States, bearing a small blue fruit, the favorite food of the opossum. Most of the large trees become hollow. (b) A tree of the genusEucalyptus. SeeEucalyptus. (3) TheSweet Gumtree of the United States, a large and beautiful tree with pointedly lobed leaves and woody, burlike fruit. It exudes an aromatic juice. The wood is now extensively used in cabinet work and interior finish.
Hemlock Tree(Tsuga), is a genus of the Pine family containing about four species which are native to North America. TheCommon Hemlockis a large tree sometimes attaining a height of one hundred and ten feet, and growing from Nova Scotia to Alabama and west to Wisconsin and Minnesota. The wood is light and soft and is extensively used in building. The bark is largely used in tanning and hemlock oil is distilled from the branches and leaves. There are many cultivated varieties which are very ornamental. TheCarolina Hemlockis a tree attaining a maximum height of eighty feet, and growing in Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia.
Hickory(Carya), is represented by ten species, exclusively of North America. Their timber is very heavy, strong, and tough, and is much used in the manufacture of agricultural implements, carriages, and hoops for casks. The fruit is a hardshelled nut, which in some species has an excellent flavor. TheShagbarkorShellbark Hickoryis a large tree, sometimes one hundred and twenty feet high, growing in rich soils from Ontario and Minnesota south to Florida, Kansas and Texas. The nuts form an important article of commerce, though less used than the pecan. TheWhiteheart HickoryorMockernutis a large tree seventy-five to one hundred feet high, growing from Ontario to Florida, occasionally to Missouri and Texas. It has a thick-shelled, edible nut. ThePignut Hickory, a tree seventy-five to one hundred and sometimes one hundred and twenty feet high, ranges from Ontario to Florida, westward to Nebraska and Texas. See alsoPecan.
Horse-Chestnut(Aesculus), is rarely found in forests, but frequently in pleasure-gardens. This beautiful tree, of sixty feet and over, has large leaves, and splendid yellow-and-red colored blossoms forming large pods. The brown chestnuts are enveloped by a prickly cover, which bursts open in the autumn. TheOhioorFetid Buckeye, reaching a height of about fifty feet, grows from Pennsylvania to Alabama, west to Michigan and Oklahoma. The wood is used for making artificial limbs and wooden ware. TheSweetorBig Buckeyeis a large tree eighty to ninety feet high, growing from Pennsylvania to Georgia, west to Iowa and Texas, and often planted as an ornamental tree. TheCalifornia Buckeyeis a small tree thirty to forty feet high, native of California, and sparingly planted for ornament.
Judas Tree(Cercis siliquastrum), is a beautiful leguminous tree, growing wild from Japan to the shores of the Mediterranean, with smooth kidney-shaped leaves, glaucous above, and pink or red flowers, which spring from both old and young wood before the appearance of the leaves. From its appearance at this season the tree shares with the elder the sinister reputation of having formed the gallows of Judas Iscariot.
BARK, CELLS, HEART AND RINGS OF THE TREE
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-calledWhite Cedarof the Eastern States and theBermuda 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. TheAmerican LarchorTamarackis 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. TheAmerican LindenorBasswoodis 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. TheSouthern BasswoodorWhitewoodis a small tree forty to fifty feet high growing from Long Island to Florida, west to Texas. TheWhite BasswoodorBee Treeis a forest tree forty-five to seventy feet high, Pennsylvania to Florida, west to Illinois and Tennessee.
Locustis a name applied to various trees of the Pea family. TheAmerican Locust Treeor 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 intoSpanish, the darker, heavier and more figured, from San Domingo and Cuba, andHonduras, 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. TheSugar Mapleis 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. TheSilverorSoft Mapleis found from New Brunswick to Florida, west to Ontario, Nebraska and Oklahoma. It is often planted as a shade tree. TheScarletorRed Maplegrows 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. TheOregon Maplegrows 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. TheScrewpod Mesquiteis 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. TheEuropean Oak, the most important Old World timber oak, is sparingly planted in the United States. TheWhite Oak, the most valuable American timber oak, occurs from Texas to Minnesota and eastward. With similar range, but less valuable for timber, areBur OakorMossy Cup Oak, theScarlet Oakand theRed Oak. TheCow OakorBasket Oakand theYelloworChestnut Oakproduce edible acorns. The bark of theQuercitronis used in tanning, as a yellow dye, and in medicine. TheLive 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.
Pine(Pinus), comprises a genus of about eighty species, nearly two-thirds of which occur in the northern part of the western hemisphere. TheWhite Pine, a tree seventy-five to one hundred feet high, is one of the most important timber trees of North America. Its range is from Newfoundland to Minnesota, south to Georgia. The wood is soft, straight grained, and is much used for building and cabinet work. TheYellow PineorLong-leaved Pinesometimes attains a height of one hundred feet, and grows in sandy soil from Virginia to Florida and Texas. The wood is heavier and stronger than that of any other pine, and is used in all kinds of building. The tree is the chief source of turpentine, tar,[165]resin, etc. TheWestern Yellow PineorBull Pineis sometimes one hundred and fifty to two hundred and fifty feet high and five to eight feet in diameter. It is found from the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific coast and is one of the most important lumber trees of the West. TheSugar Pineof Oregon and California attains a height of one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet and a diameter of more than ten feet. The timber is strong, straight grained, and is much used for a finishing lumber and cabinet work.
Palm Family(Palmaceae), is a very distinct natural family of trees and shrubs, chiefly tropical and subtropical, embracing about one thousand species which are second in economic importance only to the cereal grasses. The Palm Trees have generally straight, scaly trunks without boughs, and many species attain a considerable height. Their large fan-shaped leaves grow near the top, and form a beautiful crown. The numerous blossoms stand in long panicles. The palm trees represent the only riches of many tribes of mankind in the tropics, providing them with food, drink, dress, and building materials for their dwellings. The most valued are the cocoanut, date and sago palm trees. The large nuts of the first named are the well-known cocoanuts.
Plane Tree(Platanus), a genus of six or seven species, is a native of the north temperate zone. TheSycamore, Plane Tree,orButtonwoodreaches a height of one hundred and thirty feet with a trunk diameter of fourteen feet. It is found from Quebec to Georgia, west to Manitoba and Kansas. The wood is a favorite material for tobacco boxes and butcher blocks and is largely used for furniture. Other species in the United States are theCalifornia Sycamoreand theArizona Sycamore, both large trees.
Poplar(Populus), a hardy genus of about twenty trees, native to temperate and cold regions. Half of the species occur in the United States, all of soft wood and rapid growth. TheCotton-Wood, common along streams from the Rocky Mountains eastward, sometimes attaining one hundred and fifty feet in height and a diameter of seven feet, is much planted for ornament. TheBalsam Poplar, sometimes one hundred feet high, occurs northward and in Siberia. TheEuropean White PoplarandBlack Poplar, much-planted ornamentals, have become naturalized in the Eastern States. TheLombardy Poplar, with very upright boughs, frequently grows along the roadside in Asia, Europe and America.
Redwood.SeeSequoia.
Sandalwood(Santalum album), is a small tree, native of India and the Indian Archipelago. It produces a compact, fine-grained wood which is used for making small ornamental articles and possesses a remarkable fragrance which persists long after it has become thoroughly seasoned.
Sassafrasis a genus containing but two known species, one in North America and the other in China. TheSassafrasorAgue Tree, is eighty to ninety feet high, is found from Canada to Florida, west to Kansas and Texas. Oil of sassafras, used for flavoring confectionery, is distilled from the roots, and the bark is frequently employed as a household medicine and beverage.
Sequoia, a genus of trees named after a remarkable Cherokee Indian (otherwise George Guess), who gave his tribe a written alphabet of eighty-six characters, and died in New Mexico in 1845. There are only two living species, both natives of Western North America, the Big or Mammoth Tree and the California Redwood. The Big Tree is a native of the Sierra Nevada, and reaches over one thousand years of age, four hundred and fifty feet in height, and one hundred and twelve feet in circumference. The Redwood has a wider range in latitude as a wild tree, and reaches three hundred feet in height. It has a shaggy, reddish bark and very dark foliage. Its wood is of good texture, but monotonous in grain. It is used in cabinet work and interiors.
Spruce(Picea), a genus of about eighteen species, native of the Northern Hemisphere. TheWhite Spruceis a slender tree fifty to one hundred and fifty feet high, found from New York to British Columbia, north to Newfoundland, Hudson Bay and Alaska. The wood is light and soft and is largely used for construction and for paper pulp. TheBlack Spruceis twenty to thirty and very rarely one hundred feet high; grows from Newfoundland and Hudson Bay and Alberta south to North Carolina, Michigan and Minnesota. It is largely used for wood pulp and paper. TheRed Spruce, seventy to eighty feet high, grows from Nova Scotia to Virginia, and is largely manufactured into lumber. TheTidelandorSitka Spruceis a large tree usually one hundred feet, sometimes two hundred feet high, occurring abundantly from northern California to Alaska. Its valuable timber is used for all kinds of building purposes. TheNorway Spruceis largely planted in the Eastern States as an ornamental tree.
Sycamore.Only certain trees of the genusFicus, mostly natives of Asia and Africa, are properly called sycamores. TheEgyptian Sycamore, supposed to be the sycamore of the Bible, is a large spreading tree often planted for shade in Egypt and western Asia. In northern Europe this name is also given to the species of maple, and in the United States to theAmerican Plane Tree. SeePlane Tree.
Upas(Antiaris toxicaria). A tree found in the Philippine Islands and tropical Asia. The fiber of the bark is sometimes made into cloth and the juice of the roots is used by the Malays for poisoning their arrows. This tree figures in both religion and mythology.
Walnut(Juglans), a genus of about ten species, mostly natives of North America and Asia. TheBlack Walnutis sometimes one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five feet high, growing from Ontario to Florida, west to Nebraska and Texas. The dark brown wood is largely used for cabinet making and gunstocks. TheWhite WalnutorButternutresembles the black walnut, but is seldom over one hundred feet high. The wood is used in the interior finish of houses and for furniture. TheCalifornia Walnut, a tree sometimes sixty-five feet high, is often cultivated in California for shade and as a stock on which to graft the English Walnut. TheEnglish Walnutis sixty to ninety feet high, native of Persia, and has long been cultivated for its edible nuts.
Willow(Salix), a genus of over one hundred and fifty species, mostly of cool, northern regions, fully one-half occurring within the United States. The leaves are egg-shaped and wrinkled; the blossoms yellow and greenish. They possess great quantities of honey, and attract, therefore, all kinds of insects, especially bees. TheWeeping Willowis much planted for ornament. TheEuropean Osieris cultivated for its twigs. Of the native species, the shrubbyShining Willow, theBlack Willow, is sometimes forty feet high, and theHeart-leaved Willoware among the best known.
Yew(Taxus), a genus of some six trees and shrubs, are widely distributed in the northern hemisphere, three species occurring in the United States. TheAmerican Yewis a low, straggling shrub seldom over five feet high growing in woods from Newfoundland to Manitoba and south to Virginia and Iowa. TheFlorida Yewis a bushy tree rarely twenty-five feet high. TheCalifornia Yewis a tree forty to fifty feet high occurring from British Columbia to California, sometimes cultivated in gardens in Europe. The hard wood is used for fence posts. TheEuropean Yewis a native of Europe and Siberia reaching a height of forty feet.
The cultivation of the fiber-yielding plants and the manufacture of their products into textiles, ropes, cordage, and matting are among the most important industries of the world, and afford employment directly and indirectly to many millions of people. The industries, moreover, are of great antiquity, for we have definite evidence from the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland that flax was cultivated and used as a textile during the Stone Age, and the occurrence of linen cloth in the tombs of Egypt and constant references to the same material in the earliest books of the Bible are well known to everyone. How and when mankind first became aware of the possibilities of vegetable fibers as materials for clothing it is not easy to say, but it is not improbable that he first employed the fibers to supply his need for string cordage, especially in his hunting expeditions, and that gradually the idea of weaving the strings to form a fabric occurred to him. The apparatus employed must have been of extreme simplicity and the finished product crude according to modern ideas; but that thousands of years ago textiles of superlative quality, rivaling anything that can be produced to-day, were manufactured by Eastern races is a matter of history and observation.
Annotto, Anatto or Arnotto.The red substance imported under this name consists of the aggregated seed pellicles ofBixa Orellana. The coloring matter is best extracted by alcohol, as it is not very soluble in water. It is the source of coloring for dairy products, being the standard butter and cheese color in the United States, England and Holland. Has also a limited use as a dye in calico printing. It was anciently used by natives of Brazil, Central America, and West Indies to stain their bodies red, and by Mexicans in painting. Cultivation prehistoric in tropical America. Now naturalized in India.
Bamboo(Bambusa) grows in the tropics of Asia, Africa and America. The plants are in reality merely gigantic grasses. The stems are hollow and contain only a light pith, but they are jointed and at the nodes strong partitions stretch across the inside. They grow in clumps, and may reach a height of one hundred and twenty feet and a thickness of ten inches. Some species flower only once, some every year, and others at longer intervals.
The Bamboo is noted for its great economic importance, and serves a variety of useful purposes. The young shoots of some species are cut when tender and eaten like asparagus; the seeds also are sometimes used as food, and for making beer; some species exude a saccharine juice at the nodes which is of domestic value.
The hard stems are converted into bows, arrows, quivers, lance-shafts, masts of vessels, bed-posts, walking-sticks, poles of palanquins, rustic bridges, bee-hives, water-pipes, gutters, furniture, ladders, domestic utensils and agricultural implements. Split up finely they afford a most durable material for weaving into mats, baskets, window-blinds, ropes and even sails of boats. Perhaps the greatest use to which they are put is in building, for in India, China, Japan, Assam, Malay, and other countries of the East, houses are frequently constructed solely of this material.
Betel-nut(Areca Catechu), a palm cultivated in tropical Asia. The seed or nut resembles a nutmeg in size and in color. Pieces of this nut are rolled up with a little lime in leaves ofPiper Betel, the Betel-pepper, and chewed by the natives. The pellet is hot, acrid, aromatic and astringent, tinges the saliva red, and stains the teeth. Its charcoal is used as toothpowder.
Cultivated extensively in the East Indies, where the consumption of leaves by chewing with the areca nut is enormous. Narcotic stimulant.
Cinchona,a genus of evergreen trees, includes thirty-six species, about a dozen of which are utilized. They are natives of the Andes, growing mostly between five thousand and eight thousand feet above the sea-level. It is the source of quinine, the most important drug in tropical medicine, and widely used throughout the world. Its cultivation is becoming quite extensive.
The bark introduced into Europe in 1639 by the Countess of Cinchon, whence the name. Now extensively cultivated in India, Japan, Ceylon and Jamaica.
Cotton(Gossypium herbaceum) is one of the most important cultivated shrubs. It is an annual and grows from two to four feet in height, with stalks branching extensively. At the bottom of the stalk the limbs are longest, and at the top they are light and short.
The flowers are white, or pale yellow, or cream-colored the first day. They darken and redden on the second day, and fall to the ground on the third or fourth day, leaving a tiny boll developed in the calyx. This boll develops and enlarges until maturity, when it is somewhat like a hen’s egg, both in size and shape. This boll is the house of the seed and lint—the products of commerce. In it are from three to five apartments or cells (often more than five in improved types), which hold the lint from its earliest formation until it is picked in the fall. The bolls of the cotton plant mature all the way from the last of August until frost attacks them. When matured, the fibrous wool, known as seed cotton, is gathered, ginned, and baled. When separated from the seed the lint becomes the cotton of commerce.
The chief commercial types of cotton are American upland, sea island, Egyptian, India, Brazilian and Peruvian. These differ in the length of the individual fibers (staple). The quality is indicated by the grading under such names as fine, good, good fair, fully fair, middling fair, good middling, middling, etc. Sea island cotton has the longest staple and is used for the finest qualities of yarn and fabrics. Egyptian cotton also has a long staple. Large amounts are imported into the United States.
Cotton is next to corn the most valuable farm crop of the United States. Nearly three-fourths of all the cotton produced annually in the world is grown in the south Atlantic and gulf states. The remainder comes mostly from India, Egypt, China, Brazil, and Asiatic Russia. A comparatively small percentage of the crop is sea island cotton from the coast of Georgia and from islands in the West Indies. The area of cotton production is spreading in the United States as well as in foreign countries.
Cotton fiber is spun into yarn and made into thread, muslin, calico and hundreds of other cotton or part cotton fabrics. Mercerized yarn is prepared by treatment with strong caustic alkali. Cotton linters are used in cheap yarns, cotton batting, mattresses, and the manufacture of celluloid and artificial silk.
Cotton seeds are subjected to heavy pressure in machines in order to extract the oil. The oil-cake is a valuable cattle food and the hulls are used for fuel or for paper making.
Cottonseed oil is used for table purposes, for packing sardines, for cooking, making soap, candles, etc.
The greatest centers of cotton manufacture are in England, New England, the Carolinas and Georgia. Germany, Russia, India and Japan are among the important manufacturing nations.
Modern cotton mills are of immense size. The bales are opened, the cotton cleaned, carded, and twisted into slivers, rovings, and finally into yarn. Raw cotton, cotton yarn and cotton fabrics are all important in trade. About half the crop of the United States is exported in bales to be manufactured in the mills of other countries.
England has an enormous foreign trade in cotton fabrics. The United States exports chiefly unbleached muslin, more of which goes to China than to any other country.
It is certain that cotton was in use in India three thousand years ago, and in Egypt more than two thousand years ago. It was well known to the ancient civilizations of Mexico, Peru, Central America and the West Indies. When the European voyagers, Columbus, Pizarro, and Cortez, visited for the first time these ancient civilizations, the manufacture of cotton was in a flourishing condition, and the quality and beauty of the cotton goods of a high order.
Flax(Linum usitatissimum) has been cultivated for centuries. Along the upright stalk, of eighteen to twenty inches high, small narrow leaves grow; the blossoms appear in July and August, and are light blue.
Flax is grown for fiber in Russia, Belgium, Italy, France, Holland, Ireland and Egypt. Little flax fiber is produced in the United States. Plants for fiber production are straight stemmed, while the varieties grown for seed have many branches. Flax seeds are produced in Russia, India, Argentina and the United States. Plants harvested for fiber are pulled up by the root in order to obtain the greatest possible length. The fiber is separated from the stalk of the plant by retting, a process of partial decay, breaking and scutching to remove the woody parts and hackling or combing. In the best grades of flax most of this work is done by hand.
Flax or linen fiber and linseed oil are the chief products of the plant. Tow is a by-product in making linen and flax yarns and fabrics.
Linseed oil is used in paints, varnishes, printer’s ink, oilcloth and linoleum. Linseed oil-cake is a valuable cattle food. Flax seeds find limited use in medicine.
Flax yarns are used in making rope, twine, bagging and coarse, unbleached fabrics. Linen yarns are made into products of the better grade, including fine linens, cambrics, laces, etc.
Linen is bleached by exposure to the sun and by treatment with a dilute solution of chloride of lime. Linen rags are the stock for the best qualities of paper.
The United States imports flax fiber mainly from Europe, as well as large quantities of linens, laces, etc. Some flax seeds are imported and large amounts of linseed oil-cake are sent to Europe.
Guava(Psidium Guayava), small trees of tropical America belonging to the Myrtle family. The fruits vary very much in size, shape and color, the most valued being thewhite guava, with pear-shaped, yellow or whitish fruits the size of a hen’s egg. The inferiorred guavawhich is more apple-shaped, is also used in preparing guava-jelly and guava-cheese, which preserves, owing to the perishable character of the fruit, are the only forms in which the fruit is imported. The tree has been naturalized in the East, and is commonly grown from Mexico to Peru at date of Spanish discovery. Since widely diffused in East and West India Islands, India, and China. Recently established in Florida and California.
Hemp(Cannabis sativa) is cultivated in many countries. It is about three feet in height, has finger-like leaves and the fruit has the form of a little nut. The home of the hemp is the East Indies. The stalks are dried in the sun, then steeped in water or upon wet (moist) meadows, and again exposed to the sun, when the woody parts are stripped off. The remaining fibers are manufactured into cables, ropes, sail-cloth, linen and paper.
Other hemps of different botanical origin and having quite different qualities are called by such names as manila hemp, sisal hemp, tampico hemp, Mauritius hemp, sunn hemp, bowstring hemp, etc. Strictly speaking, none of these is true hemp.
It is cultivated in Russia, the warm countries of Asia, the shores of the Mediterranean, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois and California. Russia produces more hemp fiber than all the rest of the world. Russia and Italy are the largest exporters.
As with other cordage fibers of this character, the long, combed fibers are called line and the short strands, tow. The commercial fiber is longer, coarser and less strong than flax. It can not be bleached perfectly white, although used in so-called coarse linens. Russian, Italian and Kentucky, as applied to hemp, denote the country of origin. Italian hemp is the finest, Kentucky the strongest.
Hemp oil is pressed from the seeds. It is used in paints, varnishes and soap. The oil-cake is a cattle food.
Hop(Humulus lupulus), sometimes grows wild in hedges and bushes, and is also frequently cultivated. Its stalk, which leans to the right, is eighteen to twenty-four feet high; its petiolate leaves are heart-shaped, with three to five lobes. The blossoms of its stamens form panicles; the female cones stand either singly in the axils of the leaves or in clusters. In these cones a yellow, bitter resin, the hop-powder or lupulin, is secreted, which yields the wort for beer, and is also used by chemists. Hops are cultivated in almost all parts of Europe, especially in England, Germany and Austria. In the United States, California, Oregon, Washington, New York and Wisconsin produce the largest crops.
Hops are added to the malt, liquor, or wort before fermentation and give a bitter flavor to malt liquors. Hops are not exported on a large enough scale to be an important item in commerce.
Juteis an East Indian plant whose fibers are strong, coarse, dark in color and sometimes twelve feet long. The fibers are largely employed in the manufacture of coarse bagging and sacking called gunny cloth. Gunny bags, in which pepper, ginger, sugar, cotton, rice, gums, etc., are shipped are made of it. Jute is also largely mixed with silk, as it has a gloss that can scarcely be distinguished from silk when woven with it. Attempts have been made to manufacture paper out of jute, but it is difficult to bleach it white, and only a coarse kind of brown paper is obtained.
Licorice(Glycyrrhiza) is a plant having long, pliant, sweet roots, and generally creeping rootstocks; pinnate leaves of many leaflets, and terminating in an odd one; and whitish, violet-colored flowers in spikes, racemes, or heads. The roots of licorice depend for the valuable properties[168]on a substance calledGlycyrrhizine, allied to sugar, yellow, transparent, uncrystallizable, soluble in both water and alcohol, and forming compounds both with acids and with bases. They are a well-known article of materia medica, and were used by the ancients as in modern times, being emollient, demulcent, very useful in catarrh and irritations of the mucous membrane. It is a native of the south of Europe and of many parts of Asia, as far as China. It is cultivated in many countries of Europe. The only American species grows in the plains of the Missouri.
Ramieis the bast fiber from a plant (Boehmeria nivea), commonly called China grass, or rhea, although fibers from other plants sometimes receive these names. It is usually strong and silky in appearance but difficult to clean and bleach.
It is used largely in China for weaving grass cloth, or Canton linen. The fiber is very difficult to “de-gum.” Many experiments have been made to find a satisfactory process. It is now used in making fabrics which resemble linen, laces, underwear, plushes, etc.
Raphia,a strong and useful fiber is obtained from the leaves ofRaphia Ruffia, a palm cultivated in Madagascar, Mauritius, and neighboring islands, and of the Jupati palm, of Brazil. Madagascar raphia is the only important grade. A similar soft fiber used locally is produced in West Africa.
It is exported in considerable amounts from Madagascar and used by gardeners for tying plants; and also for making mats and basketry and in kindergartens.
Rattanis the stem of a species of climbing palm, natives of Asia, though some occur in Australia and in Africa. They have slender, reed-like but solid stems, seldom more than one or two inches in diameter, which grow to great lengths, clambering up among the branches of trees by means of the hooked prickles on the stalks of their leaves. The Indian and Malayan species are the source of the largely-imported rattan canes, used for the seats of chairs, and, in their native countries, for cables and a variety of other purposes.
Sisal(henequen or sisal hemp) is a hard, strong fiber from the leaves of a century plant (Agave rigida). It is cultivated in Yucatan and the Bahamas. Plantations of henequen, or maguey, have been established in Cuba, Hawaii, India, German and British East Africa and the Philippines. The home of the agave plants is Mexico and Central America and this part of the world produces most of these fibers.
On modern plantations machines have superseded the primitive hand methods of cleaning the fiber. Sisal is the chief product of Yucatan and its greatest export. The bulk of the production is used in the United States in making rope, twine and sacking. All of the other agave fibers are of less commercial importance than sisal or henequen.
The fiber of this species is especially valuable for ship cables, as it has been found to resist the action of sea-water better than most other materials.
Tobacco Plant(Nicotiana tabacum) is three to four feet in height; its leaves longish and lancet-shaped; its corolla pink; its fruit is a capsule, with many seeds. It is indigenous to America. Its leaves are either used for chewing, for smoking, or for snuff. It belongs to the poisonous plants, and contains no nutritious substance; its flavor and odor are disagreeable; nevertheless it furnishes much enjoyment to a large portion of mankind.
More tobacco is raised in the United States than in any other country and Kentucky raises more than any other state. India is the second largest producer. In Europe it is cultivated in Austria-Hungary, Russia, Germany, Netherlands, France, Belgium and Turkey. Cuba, Porto Rico, Mexico, Central and South America, China, Java, Sumatra, Philippines, Ceylon, Syria and Cape Colony are important producers.
Commercial grades are named from the locality of production as Havana, Sumatra, Mexican, Turkish, Virginia, etc. Certain grades are appropriate for use as cigar wrappers and others for fillers and are so named in the trade.
The United States exports over half of the tobacco raised, chiefly to England in the form of leaf tobacco. Few cigars are exported, but cigarettes and plug tobacco go to the East Indies, China and Australia.
A number of plants contain so powerful a poison that we should take especial care to avoid them. As the danger may be better avoided by a general knowledge of these plants, a detailed description of them is highly desirable. Many of them are also important medicinal plants; and we should therefore by no means regret the existence of these poisonous growths; for, if we apply them to their proper uses, they serve to supply us with valuable medical aids.
Darnell(Lolium temulentum) is from eighteen to thirty-six inches high, and often found in cornfields. Its seeds contain a poison, which is narcotic and stupefying.
Deadly Nightshade(Atropa Belladonna) is common in the woods. The sappy stem is from three to six feet high; the egg-shaped leaves are covered with down; the brownish-red blossoms are arranged solitary in the axils of the leaves. The bright black berry is as large as a cherry. The nightshade is our most dangerous poisonous plant, and there is little hope for children who have eaten of its berries. From the fresh leaves atropine is prepared, which is a very powerful remedy in certain diseases of the eye.
Black Hellebore(Helleborus niger) blooms in December, January and February, and is a native of the mountainous woods of South Germany and Austria. The black root, which is white inside, is poisonous.
Fool’s Parsley or Dog’s Parsley(Aethusa Cynapium) is a common weed, growing in gardens, fields, and also on rubbish. It is easily mistaken for parsley. As it is very poisonous, it is well to remember that it can be easily recognized by three long pendent floral leaves on solitary umbels; the leaves are odorless, and only when crushed emit a faint, garlic-like scent.
Hellebore(H. viridisandH. fœtidus) is also rightly described as a poisonous plant. One species is used for killing lice and vermin on cattle, horses, and other live stock.
Henbane(Hyoscyamus niger) grows on rubbish and waste ground. The entire plant is covered with sticky hairs, and has a repulsive odor. The stem is about thirteen inches high; the longish leaves are widely serrated; the flowers are pale yellow, streaked with dark-violet veins; the fruit is a capsule, which opens with a spring lid. The henbane is also a dangerous, poisonous plant, but its leaves and seeds supply an important medicine.
Herb-Paris(Paris quadrifolia) grows in hedges and shady woods. On its upright stem there are four oval leaves. It has never more than one blossom, consisting of greenish-yellow petals, eight stamens, and one pistil. Its fruit is a dark blue, round berry, which ripens in July and August. The latter when eaten causes diarrhœa, convulsions and other disturbances.
Marsh Crow’s-Foot(Ranunculus sceleratus) grows in ditches and marshes. The upright branching stem is from twelve to eighteen inches high; the leaves are divided in the shape of a hand, and the blossoms are small and yellow. The marsh crow’s-foot contains very poisonous juices, which cause blisters and ulcers to rise on the skin, and when taken inwardly nearly always cause death. The other species of crow’s-foot found in meadows, fields, woods, etc., are also more or less poisonous.
Meadow Saffron(Colchicum autumnale) is a bulbous plant, which blooms in dry meadows in September and October. The flesh-colored blossoms appear in the autumn, and leaves are thrown up in the following spring; between the leaves are large capsules, each containing numerous seeds. The seeds and the bulbous root contain poison, and the former are used in medicine.
Mezereon(Daphne Mezereum) grows solitary in the woods. It is a tough plant, from one to three feet high; the lanceolate leaves are arranged in tufts at the end of the shoots; the rose-colored blossoms appear before the leaves, and are generally situated in clusters of three on the branches; the fruit is a red stone-fruit. The whole plant is poisonous; a medicine is prepared from the bark.
Purple Foxglove(Digitalis purpurea) is a common wild flower, and grows to a height of fifty inches. The longish leaves are felt-like, and the large purple flowers stand in a cluster; the fruit is a capsule. The purple foxglove is poisonous, and its leaves are used in medicine.
Spotted Hemlock(Conium maculatum) grows upon rubbish, hedges, fences, and highways. The stem is three to six feet high, marked with blue and bluish-red spots; the leaves are tripennate; the white blossoms also stand in flat umbels. The leaves when bruised emit a very peculiar mouse-like odor which is very noticeable on hot summer days. The root, especially, is poisonous, and when eaten causes the most fatal consequences. Hemlock is a powerful sedative, and is used medicinally.
Thorn Apple(Datura Stamonium) originally came from the East Indies, but is now widely spread, growing on rubbish and in gardens. Never more than a few plants are found. Its forked stem is from eighteen inches to three feet high; the petiolate leaves are widely serrated; the large blossoms are a pure white; the fruit resembles the horse chestnut, and contains numerous black seeds. The thorn apple has a very repulsive odor, a disagreeable flavor, and is poisonous in all parts. The leaves and seeds are used in medicines.
Water Hemlock(Cicuta virosa), is very common in many localities on the banks of streams, ditches, and in flooded fields; in other localities it is rare. The thick, fleshy root is hollow, and divided in the interior into sections; the upright stem is hollow and smooth; the leaves are tripennate; the small white blossoms are arranged in umbels of ten or more rays. The poison is chiefly contained in the red root, which, when eaten by children, who mistake it for an edible root, nearly always causes death, unless medical aid is immediately at hand. The other parts of the plant also contain a poison, which is so strong that its odor alone will produce headache and giddiness.
Wolf’s-Bane or Monk’s-Hood(Aconitum Lycotonum) is a rare plant from eighteen inches to three feet high; the leaves are shaped like a hand, with three, five or seven lobes. The blossom is yellow. The wolf’s-bane contains a virulent poison, especially in the root and in the seeds. This description also applies to theAconitum Napellus, which is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens; its tubers are used medicinally.
We usually think of plants as quite harmless things, almost wholly at the mercy of the animal creation. This, however, is only one side of the story, for quite a number of plants have a very cunning plan whereby they entrap flies and other insects. The ingenuity with which these plants lure their victims on to death is simply amazing. Everything is done to tempt the creature to visit the death traps of the plants, and, on the other hand, no means are spared to make an escape impossible.