LONGLEAF BLOLLY
(Torrubia longifolia)

THE blolly is the sole representative in the United States of some 15 trees making up this tree family of tropical America. The group was named for a Spanish naturalist of the Eighteenth Century, Joseph Torrubia.
The blolly is found growing along brackish lagoons and on sea beaches from Cape Canaveral south over the
Florida Keys. The tree reaches heights of 30 to 60 feet, with a trunk 15 to 20 inches in diameter, round-topped with stout spreading branches. It is often a much smaller tree. There are often many spur-like branches of a greyish or reddish brown color, with relatively large, raised, crescent-shaped leaf scars. The bark is thin and reddish brown in color. The leaves are oblong or pear shaped, rounded at the end and narrowed at the base, about one and one-half inches long by three-quarters inch wide, thick, firm, light green and smooth above, paler below.
The flowers are borne in clusters (panicles) at the ends of the twigs, and greenish yellow or purplish in color. The fruit is fleshy, narrow and elongated, prominently 10-ribbed, about three-quarters inch long, and bright red.
The yellow or brownish yellow wood is somewhat soft and weak but heavy, coarse-grained, and surrounded by a wide band of darker colored sapwood--an unusual variation in color for sapwood.

WOOLLYBUCKET BUMELIA
(Gum Elastic or Chittam Wood)
(Bumelia lanuginosa)

THE gum elastic is known to occur in Florida along streams and in sandy woods from near Lake City (Columbia County) to Cedar Key (Levy County) and westward. It ranges from southern Georgia west to Texas and up the Mississippi Basin to southern Illinois. It reaches its largest development probably in the central coastal region of Texas.

In Florida it is a small tree up to 25 feet in height by six to eight inches in diameter, but in dry, sandy locations often a shrub, and massed in thickets. The branches are short, stout and stiff, and often armed with straight or curved spines.

The leaves are oblong, more or less grouped near the ends of short branchlets, or spurs, rounded at the apex,

narrowed at the base, thick, firm, dark green and shiny above, and partly covered below with soft brown to silvery hairs. They are from one to over two inches in length and up to three-quarters inch wide.

The flowers are very small and open in summer, each borne on a hairy flower-stem (pedicel) about one-eighth inch long. They are borne in clustered groups of 15 to 18, springing from near the axils of the new leaves or near the leaf-scars of old leaves. The petals are white and lobed. The fruit is fleshy, black, oblong, about one-half inch in length, borne singly or in a cluster of two or three, and usually dry and firm on the outside. A single, light-brown, firm, rounded seed is borne in each fruit, and ripens when the fruit falls from the tree in autumn.

The wood is light brown streaked with white and surrounded by a band of lighter colored sapwood. It is heavy, hard, and close-grained.

The name "gum elastic" refers to the tough jelly-like masses which form on the bark upon the drying of the milky juice.

RUSTY BLACKHAW VIBURNUM
(Southern Black Haw)
(Viburnum rufidulum)

THE southern black haw is found in woods and thickets over northern and central Florida. It forms a tree some- times 35 feet high with a trunk over a foot in diameter, but is usually much smaller, often flowering as a shrub. The twigs are ashy-gray, becoming dark dull reddish brown after one to several years. The winter buds are densely covered with rusty brown hairs which persist for some weeks at the base of the leaf-stalks.
The bark is one-quarter to one-half inch thick, becoming roughened into small plate-like dark brown scales tinged with red. The bark has medicinal use.

The leaves are attached opposite each other on the stem, elliptic to obovate or oval, pointed or blunt at the apex, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, and with fine teeth on the margin. They are leathery in texture, very shining and dark green above, pale and dull below, about three inches long and one to one and one-half inches wide.

The flowers are small and white, and each has five petals and five stamens, appearing in the spring, in dense clusters at the tips of branches.

The fruit is also clustered, and ripens in the fall. It is a bright-blue oval drupe or berry, over one-half inch long covered with a glaucous bloom, and containing a stony seed one-half inch long and one-third inch wide.

The wood is bad smelling and has no economic use. The tree is occasionally cultivated and is desirable for decorative planting.

Two other black haws or viburnums, occur over northern and middle Florida, either as small trees or shrubs.

HAWTHORN
(Haw, White Haw, Red Haw, Thorn Bush)
(Crataegus species)

THE hawthorn, as here treated, represents a considerable number of different species and varieties distributed throughout the northern and central peninsula portions of the State. About 50 species are known to occur in Florida. Members of the group occur on the poorest and richest soils, on the shallowest and deepest, and on the limestone hills as well as on the rich bottom and swamp land. Most of the forms have a common likeness in possessing thorns and bearing
white blossoms and red or yellow fruit. Some species are planted as ornamental trees, but otherwise the group is of little commercial value.
The bark is generally thin, gray in color, and on the old stems broken up into thin, narrow scales.
The leaves are simple, alternate, mostly oval or wedge shaped, notched on the edges, and usually from two to three inches long.
The flowers are white, some fragrant and others with a slightly unpleasant odor; they appear in early spring. The fruit varies from globular to oblong, from one-fourth to three-fourths inch in diameter; some when ripe have a pulpy, sweet, edible flesh, surrounding from one to five bony seeds.
The fruit of most species ripens in the fall, and one or two varieties yield a fruit highly prized for making jelly.
The wood is strong, tough, heavy, hard, but rarely used for any purpose.
Many species of birds are attracted to these trees and bushes, largely on account of the fruit and the protection offered for nesting.

MASTIC
(Sideroxylon foetidissimum)

THE mastic is a large valuable timber tree found along the coasts from Brevard and Lee Counties south including the Keys. It grows to heights of 70 feet with a large straight trunk from three to four feet in diameter, crowned with stout branches and smooth, reddish brown branchlets forming an irregular head. A milky sap exudes from fresh wounds.
The leaves are oval to oblong, smooth, bright-green and shiny above, yellow-green below, three to five inches long by one to two inches wide, thin but firm in texture. They remain green for more than a year and are usually clustered near the ends of the branchlets. New leaves appear during the year.

The flowers are very small and appear in crowded clusters (fascicles), each on a stout flower-stalk, or pedicel. The petals are light yellow, and flowers may be found opening in fall, spring and summer. The fruit is olive-shaped, with a firm yellow skin, and thick juicy flesh of a pleasant, rather acid flavor. It is relished by some people. It is borne on a stout woody stem and ripens mostly in March or April. Each contains a single oblong seed about one-half inch long, with a thick fleshy albumen content.

The wood of the mastic tree is heavy, hard, strong, of a bright orange color, surrounded by a hand of yellowish sapwood. It is used for boat building. The mastic is said to be well adapted for planting as a shade-tree.

This and the gum elastic tree belong to a tropical and subtropical tree family, from one member of which in the Malay Peninsula gutta-percha is obtained.

SHADBLOW SERVICEBERRY
(Amelanchier canadensis)

THE service-tree, also known as service-berry and locally "sarvis," is found from Maine to Louisiana and Oklahoma, including the western part of Florida. It is a small tree, 20 to 50 feet high and six to 18 inches in diameter, with a rather narrow, rounded top, but is often little more than a shrub. The bark is thin, ashy gray, smooth on the branches and upper part of the stem, and breaking into shallow fissures on the short trunk.
The leaves are alternate, slender-stalked, ovate, pointed, finely toothed, two to four inches long, purplish brown until nearly mature, then becoming a light green, and early covered with scattered silky hairs.

The white flowers appear in erect or drooping clusters in early spring, before or with the leaves, making the tree quite conspicuous in the leafless or budding forest. Farther north it has been planted because of its very early and ornamental flowers. The fruit is sweet, edible, rounded, dark purple when ripe, one-third to one-half an inch in diameter, ripening early in June. Birds and other denizens of the forest are very fond of the fruit and men have been known to cut down and destroy the trees to gather one crop of fruits.

The wood is heavy, exceedingly hard, strong, closegrained and dark brown. It is occasionally used for handles. This is a desirable ornamental tree and should be planted for this purpose and to encourage the birds.

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