.

Maine,--Fayette Ridge, Kennebec county; New Hampshire,--along the
Atlantic coast and very near the Connecticut river, rarely farther north
than its junction with the West river; Vermont,--southern and
southwestern sections, rare; Massachusetts,--occasional throughout the
state, common in the Connecticut river valley, frequent eastward; Rhode
Island and Connecticut,--common.

South to Florida; west to Minnesota and Texas.

=Habit.=--A small tree, 15-30 feet high, with a trunk diameter of 6-10
inches. The spreading branches form an open, roundish head, the young
twigs curving upwards at their extremities. In spring, when decked with
its abundant, showy white blossoms, it is the fairest of the minor trees
of the forest; in autumn, scarcely less beautiful in the rich reds of
its foliage and fruit.

=Bark.=--Bark of trunk in old trees blackish, broken-ridged, rough,
often separating into small, firm, 4-angled or roundish plates; branches
grayish, streaked with white lines; season's twigs purplish-green,
downy; taste bitter.

=Winter Buds and Leaves.=--Terminal leaf-buds narrowly conical, acute;
flower-buds spherical or vertically flattened, grayish. Leaves simple,
opposite, 3-5 inches long, two-thirds as wide, dark green above, whitish
beneath, turning to reds, purples, and yellows in the autumn, ovate to
oval, nearly smooth, with minute appressed pubescence on both surfaces;
apex pointed; base acutish; veins distinctly indented above, ribs
curving upward and parallel; leafstalk short-grooved.

=Inflorescence.=--May to June. Appearing with the unfolding leaves in
close clusters at the ends of the branches, each cluster subtended by
a very conspicuous 4-leafed involucre (often mistaken for the corolla
and constituting all the beauty of the blossom), the leaves of which are
white or pinkish, 1-1/2 inches long, obovate, curiously notched at the
rounded end. The real flowers are insignificant, suggesting the tubular
disk flowers of the Compositae; calyx-tube coherent with the ovary,
surmounting it by 4 small teeth; petals greenish-yellow, oblong,
reflexed; stamens 4; pistil with capitate style.

=Fruit.=--Ovoid, scarlet drupes, about 1/2 inch long, united in
clusters, persistent till late autumn or till eaten by the birds.

=Horticultural Value.=--Hardy in southern and southern-central New
England, but liable farther north to be killed outright or as far down
as the surface of the snow; not only one of the most