=Morus alba, L.= Probably a native of China, where its leaves have from time immemorial furnished food for silkworms; extensively introduced and naturalized in India and central and southern Europe; introduced likewise into the United States and Canada from Ontario to Florida; occasionally spontaneous near dwellings, old trees sometimes marking the sites of houses that have long since disappeared. It may be distinguished from _M. rubra_ by its smooth, shining leaves, its whitish or pinkish fruit, and its greater susceptibility to frost. MAGNOLIACEAE. MAGNOLIA FAMILY. =Liriodendron Tulipifera, L.= TULIP TREE. WHITEWOOD. POPLAR. =Habitat and Range.=--Prefers a rich, loamy, moist soil. Vermont,--valley of the Hoosac river in the southwestern corner of the state; Massachusetts,--frequent in the Connecticut river valley and westward; reported as far east as Douglas, southeastern corner of Worcester county (R. M. Harper, _Rhodora_, II, 122); Rhode Island and Connecticut,--frequent, especially in the central and southern portions of the latter state. South to the Gulf states; west to Wisconsin; occasional in the eastern sections of Missouri and Arkansas; attains great size in the basins of the Ohio and its tributaries, and southward along the Mississippi river bottoms. =Habit.=--A medium-sized tree, 50-70 feet high; trunk 2-3 feet in diameter, straight, cylindrical; head rather open, more or less cone-shaped, in the dense forest lifted high and spreading; branches small for the size of the tree, set at varying angles, often decurrent, becoming scraggly with age. The shapely trunk, erect, showy blossoms, green, cone-like fruit, and conspicuous bright green truncate leaves give the tulip tree an air of peculiar distinction. =Bark.=--Bark of trunk ashen-gray and smoothish in young trees, becoming at length dark, seamed, and furrowed; the older branches gray; the season's shoots of a shining chestnut, with minute dots and conspicuous leaf-scars; glabrous or dusty-pubescent; bark of roots pale brown, fleshy, with an agreeable aromatic smell and pungent taste.