Handbook of the Trees of New England(txt+pdf+epub+mobi电子书下载)

作者：Brooks, Henry M.

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Handbook of the Trees of New England试读：

PREFACE.

There is no lack of good manuals of botany in this country．There still seems place for an adequately illustrated book of convenient size for field use．The larger manuals, moreover, cover extensive regions and sometimes fail by reason of their universality to give a definite idea of plants as they grow within more limited areas．New England marks a meeting place of the Canadian and Alleghanian floras．Many southern plants, long after they have abandoned more elevated situations northward, continue to advance up the valleys of the Connecticut and Merrimac rivers, in which they ultimately disappear entirely or else reappear in the valley of the St．Lawrence; while many northern plants pushing southward maintain a more or less precarious existence upon the mountain summits or in the cold swamps of New England, and sometimes follow along the mountain ridges to the middle or southern states．In addition to these two floras, some southwestern and western species have invaded Vermont along the Champlain valley, and thrown out pickets still farther eastward.

At or near the limit of a species, the size and habit of plants undergo great change; in the case of trees, to which this book is restricted, often very noticeable．There is no fixed, absolute dividing line between trees and shrubs．In accordance with the usual definition, a tree must have a single trunk, unbranched at or near the base, and must be at least fifteen feet in height.

Trees that are native in New England, or native in other sections of the United States and thoroughly established in New England, are described and, for the most part, figured．Foreign trees, though locally established, are not figured．Trees may be occasionally spontaneous over a large area without really forming a constituent part of the flora．Even the apple and pear, when originating spontaneously and growing without cultivation, quickly become degenerate and show little tendency to possess themselves of the soil at the expense of the native growths．Gleditsia, for example, while clearly locally established, has with some hesitation been accorded pictorial representation.

The geographical distribution is treated under three heads: Canada and Alaska; New England; south of New England and westward．With regard to the distribution outside of New England, the standard authorities have been followed．An effort extending through several years has been made to give the distribution as definitely as possible in each of the New England states, and while previous publications have been freely consulted, the present work rests mainly upon the observations of living botanists.

All descriptions are based upon the habit of trees as they appear in New England, unless special mention is made to the contrary．The descriptions are designed to apply to trees as they grow in open land, with full space for the development of their characteristics under favorable conditions．In forest trees there is much greater uniformity; the trunks are more slender, taller, often unbranched to a considerable height, and the heads are much smaller.

When the trunk tapers uniformly from the ground upward, the given diameter is taken at the base; when the trunk is reinforced at the base, the measurements are made above the swell of the roots; when reinforced at the ground and also at the branching point, as often in the American elm, the measurements are made at the smallest place between the swell of the roots and of the branches.

A regular order has been followed in the description for the purpose of ready comparison．No explanation of the headings used seems necessary, except to state that the habitat is used in the more customary present acceptation to indicate the place where a plant naturally grows, as in swamps or upon dry hillsides．Under the head of "Horticultural Value," the requisite information is given for an intelligent choice of trees for ornamental purposes.

The order and names of families follow, in the main, Engler and Prantl．In accordance with the general tendency of New England botanists to conform to the best usage until an authoritative agreement has been reached with regard to nomenclature by an international congress, the Berlin rule has been followed for genera, and priority under the genus for species．Other names in use at the present day are given as synonyms and included in the index.

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.

The plates are from original drawings by Mrs．Elizabeth Gleason Bigelow, in all cases from living specimens, and they have been carefully compared with the plates in other works．So far as practicable, the drawings were made of life size, with the exception of the dissected portions of small flowers, which were enlarged．In this way, though not on a perfectly uniform scale, they are, when reduced to the necessary space, distinct in all their parts.

So far as consistent with due precision, popular terms have been used in description, but not when such usage involved tedious periphrase.

Especial mention should be made of those botanists whose assistance has been essential to a knowledge of the distribution of species in the New England states: Maine,—Mr．M．L．Fernald; New Hampshire,—Mr．Wm．F．Flint, Report of Forestry Commission; Vermont,—President Ezra Brainerd; Massachusetts,—trees about Northampton, Mrs．Emily Hitchcock Terry; throughout the Connecticut river valley, Mr．E．L．Morris; Rhode Island,—Professor W．W．Bailey, Professor J．F．Collins; Connecticut,—Mr．C．H．Bissell, Mr．C．K．Averill, Mr．J．N．Bishop．Dr．B．L．Robinson has given advice in general treatment and in matters of nomenclature; Dr．C．W．Swan and Mr．Charles H．Morss have made a critical examination of the manuscript; Mr．Warren H．Manning has contributed the "Horticultural Values" throughout the work; and Miss M．S．E．James has prepared the index．To these and to all others who have given assistance in the preparation of this work, the grateful thanks of the authors are due.

PINOIDEÆ．PINE FAMILY．CONIFERS.

ABIETACEÆ．CUPRESSACEÆ.

Trees or shrubs, resinous; leaves simple, mostly evergreen, relatively small, entire, needle-shaped, awl-shaped, linear, or scale-like; stipules none; flowers catkin-like; calyx none; corolla none; ovary represented by a scale (ovuliferous scale) bearing the naked ovules on its surface.

ABIETACEÆ.

Buds scaly; leaves evergreen and persistent for several years (except in Larix), scattered along the twigs, spirally arranged or tufted, linear, needle-shaped, or scale-like; sterile and fertile flowers separate upon the same plant; stamens (subtended by scales) spirally arranged upon a central axis, each bearing two pollen-sacs surmounted by a broad-toothed connective; fertile flowers composed of spirally arranged bracts or cover-scales, each bract subtending an ovuliferous scale; cover-scale and ovuliferous scale attached at their bases; cover-scale usually remaining small, ovuliferous scale enlarging, especially after fertilization, gradually becoming woody or leathery and bearing two ovules at its base; cones maturing (except in Pinus) the first year; ovuliferous scales in fruit usually known as cone-scales; seeds winged; roots mostly spreading horizontally at a short distance below the surface.

CUPRESSACEÆ.

Leaf-buds not scaly; leaves evergreen and persistent for several years, opposite, verticillate, or sometimes scattered, scale-like, often needle-shaped in seedlings and sometimes upon the branches of older plants; flowers minute; stamens and pistils in separate blossoms upon the same plant or upon different plants; stamens usually bearing 3-5 pollen-sacs on the underside; scales of fertile aments few, opposite or ternate; fruit small cones, or berries formed by coalescence of the fleshy cone-scales; otherwise as in Abietaceæ.Larix Americana, Michx.Larix laricina, Koch.Tamarack．Hacmatack．Larch．Juniper.

Habitat and Range.—Low lands, shaded hillsides, borders of ponds; in New England preferring cold swamps; sometimes far up mountain slopes.

Labrador, Newfoundland, and Nova Scotia, west to the Rocky mountains; from the Rockies through British Columbia, northward along the Yukon and Mackenzie systems, to the limit of tree growth beyond the Arctic circle.

Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont,—abundant, filling swamps acres in extent, alone or associated with other trees, mostly black spruce; growing depressed and scattered on Katahdin at an altitude of 4000 feet; Massachusetts,—rather common, at least northward; Rhode Island,—not reported; Connecticut,—occasional in the northern half of the state; reported as far south as Danbury (Fairfield county).

South along the mountains to New Jersey and Pennsylvania; west to Minnesota.

Habit.—The only New England conifer that drops its leaves in the fall; a tree 30-70 feet high, reduced at great elevations to a height of 1-2 feet, or to a shrub; trunk 1-3 feet in diameter, straight, slender; branches very irregular or in indistinct whorls, for the most part nearly horizontal; often ending in long spire-like shoots; branchlets numerous, head conical, symmetrical while the tree is young, especially when growing in open swamps; when old extremely variable, occasionally with contorted or drooping limbs; foliage pale green, turning to a dull yellow in autumn.

Bark.—Bark of trunk reddish or grayish brown, separating at the surface into small roundish scales in old trees, in young trees smooth; season's shoots gray or light brown in autumn.

Winter Buds and Leaves.—Buds small, globular, reddish.

Leaves simple, scattered along the season's shoots, clustered on the short, thick dwarf branches, about an inch long, pale green, needle-shaped; apex obtuse; sessile.

Inflorescence.—March to April．Flowers lateral, solitary, erect; the sterile from leafless, the fertile from leafy dwarf branches; sterile roundish, sessile; anthers yellow: fertile oblong, short-stalked; bracts crimson or red.

Fruit.—Cones upon dwarf branches, erect or inclining upwards, ovoid to cylindrical, ½-¾ of an inch long, purplish or reddish brown while growing, light brown at maturity, persistent for at least a year; scales thin, obtuse to truncate; edge entire, minutely toothed or erose; seeds small, winged.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy in New England; grows in any good soil, preferring moist locations; the formal outline of the young trees becomes broken, irregular, and picturesque with age, making the mature tree much more attractive than the European species common to cultivation．Rarely for sale in nurseries, but obtainable from collectors．To be successfully transplanted, it must be handled when dormant．Propagated from seed.

Note.—The European species, with which the mature plant is often confused, has somewhat longer leaves and larger cones; a form common in cultivation has long, pendulous branches.Plate I.—Larix Americana.1．Branch with sterile and fertile flowers.2．Sterile flowers.3．Different views of stamens.4．Ovuliferous scale with ovules.5．Fruiting branch.6．Open cone.7．Cone-scale with seeds.8．Leaf.9．Cross-section of leaf.

PINUS.

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.

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.

South along the mountains to Georgia, ascending to 2500 feet in the Adirondacks and to 4300 in North Carolina; west to Minnesota and Iowa.

Habit.—The tallest tree and the stateliest conifer of the New England forest, ordinarily from 50 to 80 feet high and 2-4 feet in diameter at the ground, but in northern New England, where patches of the primeval forest still remain, attaining a diameter of 3-7 feet and a height ranging from 100 to 150 feet, rising in sombre majesty far above its deciduous neighbors; trunk straight, tapering very gradually; branches nearly horizontal, wide-spreading, in young trees in whorls usually of five, the whorls becoming more or less indistinct in old trees; branchlets and season's shoots slender; head cone-shaped, broad at the base, clothed with soft, delicate, bluish-green foliage; roots running horizontally near the surface, taking firm hold in rocky situations, extremely durable when exposed.

Bark.—On trunks of old trees thick, shallow-channeled, broad-ridged; on stems of young trees and upon branches smooth, greenish; season's shoots at first rusty-scurfy or puberulent, in late autumn becoming smooth and light russet brown.

Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leading branch-buds ¼-½ inch long, oblong or ovate-oblong, sharp-pointed; scales yellowish-brown.

Foliage leaves in clusters of five, slender, 3-5 inches long, soft bluish-green, needle-shaped, 3-sided, mucronate, each with a single fibrovascular bundle, sessile.

Inflorescence.—June．Sterile flowers at the base of the season's shoots, in clusters, each flower about one inch long, oval, light brown; stamens numerous; connectives scale-like: fertile flowers near the terminal bud of the season's shoots, long-stalked, cylindrical; scales pink-margined.

Fruit.—Cones, 4-6 inches long, short-stalked, narrow-cylindrical, often curved, finally pendent, green, maturing the second year; scales rather loose, scarcely thickened at the apex, not spiny; seeds winged, smooth.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; free from disease; grows well in almost any soil, but prefers a light fertile loam; in open ground retains its lower branches for many years．Good plants, grown from seed, are usually readily obtainable in nurseries; small collected plants from open ground can be moved in sods with little risk.

Several horticultural forms are occasionally cultivated which are distinguished by variations in foliage, trailing branches, dense and rounded heads, and dwarfed or cylindrical habits of growth.Plate II.  Pinus Strobus.1．Branch with sterile flowers.2．Stamen.3．Branch with fertile flowers.4．Bract and ovuliferous scale, outer side.5．Ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side.6．Branch with cones.7．Cross-section of leaf.

Pinus rigida, Mill.

Habitat and Range.—Most common in dry, sterile soils, occasional in swamps.

New Brunswick to Lake Ontario.

Maine,—mostly in the southwestern section near the seacoast; as far north as Chesterville, Franklin county (C．H．Knowlton, Rhodora, II, 124); scarcely more than a shrub near its northern limits; New Hampshire,—most common along the Merrimac valley to the White mountains and up the Connecticut valley to the mouth of the Passumpsic, reaching an altitude of 1000 feet above the sea level; Vermont,—common in the northern Champlain valley, less frequent in the Connecticut valley (Flora of Vermont, 1900); common in the other New England states, often forming large tracts of woodland, sometimes exclusively occupying extensive areas.

South to Virginia and along the mountains to northern Georgia; west to western New York, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee.

Habit.—Usually a low tree, from 30 to 50 feet high, with a diameter of 1-2 feet at the ground, but not infrequently rising to 70-80 feet, with a diameter of 2-4 feet; trunk straight or more or less tortuous, tapering rather rapidly; branches rising at a wide angle with the stem, often tortuous, and sometimes drooping at the extremities, distinctly whorled in young trees, but gradually losing nearly every trace of regularity; roughest of our pines, the entire framework rough at every stage of growth; head variable, open, often scraggly, widest near the base and sometimes dome-shaped in young trees; branchlets stout, terminating in rigid, spreading tufts of foliage.

Bark.—Bark of trunk in old trees thick, deeply furrowed, with broad connecting ridges, separating on the surface into coarse dark grayish or reddish brown scales; younger stems and branches very rough, separating into scales; season's shoots rough to the tips.

Winter Buds and Leaves.—Leading branch-buds ½-¾ inch long, narrow-cylindrical or ovate, acute at the apex, resin-coated; scales brownish.

Foliage leaves in threes, 3-5 inches long, stout, stiff, dark yellowish-green, 3-sided, sharp-pointed, with two fibrovascular bundles; sessile; sheaths when young about ½ inch long.

Inflorescence.—Sterile flowers at the base of the season's shoots, clustered; stamens numerous; anthers yellow: fertile flowers at a slight angle with and along the sides of the season's shoots, single or clustered.

Fruit.—Cones lateral, single or in clusters, nearly or quite sessile, finally at right angles to the stem or twisted slightly downward, ovoid, ovate-conical; subspherical when open, ripening the second season; scales thickened at the apex, armed with stout, straight or recurved prickles.

Horticultural Value.—Hardy throughout New England; well adapted to exposed situations on highlands or along the seacoast; grows in almost any soil, but thrives best in sandy or gravelly moist loams; valuable among other trees for color-effects and occasional picturesqueness of outline; mostly uninteresting and of uncertain habit; subject to the loss of the lower limbs, and not readily transplanted; very seldom offered in quantity by nurserymen; obtainable from collectors, but collected plants are seldom successful．Usually propagated from the seed.Plate III.—Pinus rigida.1．Branch with sterile flowers.2．Stamen, front view.3．Stamen, top view.4．Branch with fertile flowers.5．Fertile flower showing bract and ovuliferous scale, outer side.6．Fertile flower showing ovuliferous scale with ovules, inner side.7．Fruiting branch with cones one and two years old.8．Open cone.9．Seed.10．Cross-section of leaf.

Pinus Banksiana, Lamb.

Habitat and Range.—Sterile, sandy soil: lowlands, boggy plains, rocky slopes.

Nova Scotia, northwesterly to the Athabasca river, and northerly down the Mackenzie to the Arctic circle.

Maine,—Traveller mountain and Grand lake (G．L．Goodale); Beal's island on Washington county coast, Harrington, Orland, and Cape Rosier (C．G．Atkins); Schoodic peninsula in Gouldsboro, a forest 30 feet high (F．M．Day, E．L．Rand, et al.); Flagstaff (Miss Kate Furbush); east branch of Penobscot (Mrs．Haines); the Forks (Miss Fanny E．Hoyt); Lake Umbagog (Wm．Brewster); New Hampshire,—around the shores of Lake Umbagog, on points extending into the lake, rare (Wm．Brewster in lit., 1899); Welch mountains (Bull．Torr．Bot．Club, XVIII, 150); Vermont,—rare, but few trees at each station; Monkton in Addison county (R．E．Robinson); Fairfax, Franklin county (Bates); Starkesboro (Pringle).

West through northern New York, northern Illinois, and Michigan to Minnesota.

Habit.—Usually a low tree, 15-30 feet high and 6-8 inches in diameter at the ground, but under favorable conditions, as upon the wooded points and islands of Lake Umbagog, attaining a height of 50-60 feet, with a diameter of 10-15 inches．Extremely variable in habit．In thin soils and upon bleak sites the trunk is for the most part crooked and twisted, the head scrubby, stunted, and variously distorted, resembling in shape and proportions the pitch pine under similar conditions．In deeper soils, and in situations protected from the winds, the stem is erect, slender, and tapering, surmounted by a stately head with long, flexible branches, scarcely less regular in outline than the spruce．Foliage yellowish-green, bunched at the ends of the branchlets.

Bark.—Bark of trunk in old trees dark brown, rounded-ridged, rough-scaly at the surface; branchlets dark purplish-brown, rough with the persistent bases of the fallen leaves; season's shoots yellowish-green, turning to reddish-brown.

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