Studies of Trees. Jacob Joshua Levison
11, which, however, broadens out somewhat when the tree grows old. Its color throughout the year is dull green with a tinge of brownish red, and its bark peels in thin strips.
Fig. 12(a).—Twig of Young Cedar.
Fig. 12(b).—Twig of Cedar (Older Tree).
Leaf: In young trees the leaf is needle-shaped, pointed, and marked by a white line on its under side, Fig. 12(a). In older trees it is scale-like, Fig. 12(b), and the white line on its under side is indistinct.
Range: Widely distributed over nearly all of eastern and central North America.
Soil and location: Grows on poor, gravelly soils as well as in rich bottom lands.
Enemies: The “cedar apple,” commonly found on this tree, represents a stage of the apple rust, and for that reason it is not desirable to plant such trees near orchards. Its wood is also sometimes attacked by small boring insects.
Value for planting: Its characteristic slender form gives the red cedar an important place as an ornamental tree, but its chief value lies in its commercial use.
Commercial value: The wood is durable, light, smooth and fragrant, and is therefore used for making lead-pencils, cabinets, boxes, moth-proof chests, shingles, posts, and telegraph poles.
Other characters: The fruit is small, round and berry-like, about the size of a pea, of dark blue color, and carries from one to four bony seeds.
Other common names: The red cedar is also often called juniper and red juniper.
Comparisons: The red cedar is apt to be confused with the low juniper (Juniperus communis) which grows in open fields all over the world. The latter, however, is generally of a low form with a flat top. Its leaves are pointed and prickly, never scale-like, and they are whitish above and green below. Its bark shreds and its fruit is a small round berry of agreeable aromatic odor.
Arbor-Vitae; Northern White Cedar (Thuja occidentalis)
Distinguishing characters: The branchlets are extremely flat and fan-like, Fig. 13, and have an agreeable aromatic odor when bruised. The tree is an evergreen with a narrow conical form.
Fig. 13.—Twig of the Arbor-Vitae.
Leaf: Leaves of two kinds, one scale-like and flat, the other keeled, all tightly pressed to the twig (see Fig. 13).
Form and size: A close, conical head with dense foliage near the base. Usually a small tree, but in some parts of the northeastern States it grows to medium size with a diameter of two feet.
Range: Northern part of North America.
Soil and location: Inhabits low, swampy lands; in the State of Maine often forming thick forests.
Enemies: Very seldom affected by insects.
Value for planting: Is hardy in New England, where it is especially used for hedges. It is also frequently used as a specimen tree on the lawn.
Commercial value: The wood is durable for posts, ties, and shingles. The bark contains considerable tannin and the juices from the tree have a medicinal value.
Other characters: The fruit is a cone about ½ inch long.
Other common names: Arbor-vitae is sometimes called white cedar and cedar.
Comparisons: The arbor-vitae is apt to be confused with the true white cedar (Chamæcyparis thyoides) but the leaves of the latter are sharp-pointed and not flattened or fan-shaped.
Chapter II
How To Identify Trees—(Continued)
Group IV. The Larch And Cypress
How to tell them from other trees: In summer the larch and cypress may easily be told from other trees by their leaves. These are needle-shaped and arranged in clusters with numerous leaves to each cluster in the case of the larch, and feathery and flat in the case of the cypress. In winter, when their leaves have dropped off, the trees can be told by their cones, which adhere to the branches.
There are nine recognized species of larch and two of bald cypress. The larch is characteristically a northern tree, growing in the northern and mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere from the Arctic circle to Pennsylvania in the New World, and in Central Europe, Asia, and Japan in the Old World. It forms large forests in the Alps of Switzerland and France.
The European larch and not the American is the principal species considered here, because it is being planted extensively in this country and in most respects is preferable to the American species.
The bald cypress is a southern tree of ancient origin, the well-known cypress of Montezuma in the gardens of Chepultepec having been a species of Taxodium. The tree is now confined to the swamps and river banks of the South Atlantic and Gulf States, where it often forms extensive forests to the exclusion of all other trees. In those regions along the river swamps, the trees are often submerged for several months of the year.
How to tell them from each other: In summer the larch may be told from the cypress by its leaves (compare Figs. 14 and 16). In winter the two can be distinguished by their characteristic forms. The larch is a broader tree as compared with the cypress and its form is more conical. The cypress is more slender and it is taller. The two have been grouped together in this study because they are both coniferous trees and, unlike the other Conifers, are both deciduous, their leaves falling in October.
Fig. 14.—Twig of the Larch in Summer.
The European Larch (Larix europaea)
Distinguishing characters: Its leaves, which are needle-shaped and about an inch long, are borne in clusters close to the twig, Fig. 14. There are many leaves to each cluster. This characteristic together with the spire-like form of the crown will distinguish the tree at a glance.
Leaf: The leaves are of a light-green color but become darker in the spring and in October turn yellow and drop off. The cypress, which is described below, is another cone-bearing tree which sheds its leaves in winter.
Fig. 15.—Twig of the Larch in Winter.
Form