APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, light brown tinged with red; diffuse-porous rings, close but distinct; grain, crooked, fine, close, polishes well; rays, fine but conspicuous. PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Heavy (19th in this list); 43 lbs. per cu. ft.; sp. gr., 0.6912; very strong (8th in this list); very elastic (5th in this list); very hard (7th in this list); shrinkage, 5 per cent.; warps badly; not durable when exposed; hard to work; splits badly in nailing. COMMON USES: School and other furniture, car construction, carving, wooden type, tool handles, shoe lasts, piano actions, ships' keels. REMARKS: Tree very tolerant. The uses of this wood are chiefly due to its hardness. Bird's-Eye Maple and Curly Maple are accidental varieties. Pure maple sugar is made chiefly from this species. Its ashes yield large quantities of potash. [Illustration: Radial Section, life size.] [Illustration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters.] [Illustration: Tangential Section, life size.] 61 BASSWOOD. LINDEN. Bass, refers to bast or inner bark. _Tilia americana_ Linnaeus. _Tilia_, the classical Latin name. [Illustration: Habitat.] HABITAT: (See map); best in bottom lands of lower Ohio River. [Illustration: Leaf.] CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TREE: Height, 60'-70', even 130'; diameter, 2'-4'; trunk, erect, pillar-like, branches spreading, making round heads; bark, light brown, furrowed, scaly surface, inner bark fibrous and tough, used for matting; leaves, oblique, heart-shaped, side nearest branch larger; fruit clustered on long pendulous stem, attached to vein of narrow bract. APPEARANCE OF WOOD: Color, very light brown, approaching cream color, sap-wood, hardly distinguishable; diffuse-porous; rings, fine and close but clear; grain, straight; rays, numerous, obscure. PHYSICAL QUALITIES: Light in weight (49th in this list); 28 lbs. per cu. ft.; sp. gr., 0.4525; weak (60th in this list); elasticity, medium (49th in this list); soft (64th in this list); shrinkage, 6 per cent.; warps comparatively little; quite durable; very easily worked; somewhat tough to split, nails well. COMMON USES: Woodenware, carriage bodies, etc., picture molding, paper pulp, etc. REMARKS: May be propagated by grafting as well as by seed. Is subject to attack by many insects. Wood used for carriage bodies because flexible and easily nailed. [Illustration: Radial Section, life size.] [Illustration: Cross-section, magnified 37-1/2 diameters.] [Illustration: Tangential Section, life size.] 62 SOUR GUM. TUPELO. PEPPERIDGE. BLACK GUM. Tupelo, the Indian name. _Nyssa sylvatica_ Marshal. _Nyssa_, from Nysa, the realm of moist vegetation and the home of _Dio-nysus_ (Bacchus) (the tree grows in low wet lands); _sylvatica_, refers to its habit of forest growth. [Illustration: Habitat.] HABITAT: (See map); best in Southern Appalachian mountains. [Illustration: Leaf.]