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Genus PERSEA, Linn. — Part 2

Red Bay (Persea Borbonia, Spreng.)--A shapely, narrow headed tree, 50 to 70 feet high, with numerous stout, erect branches and angled branchlets. Roots yellow, fleshy. Bark thick, red, furrowed and cut into broad, flat, scaly ridges; branches greenish. Wood hard, heavy, strong, bright red. Buds woolly, red, small. Leaves evergreen, 3 to 4 inches long, broad, entire, oblong to lanceolate, tapering at base and apex, thick, bright green, lustrous, gloucous beneath, turning yellow; petioles stout, short, brown. Flowers small, white, axillary, in few-flowered clusters. Fruit blue or black, shiny berries, 1/2 inch long, 1-seeded, with persistent calyx lobes. Preferred habitat, stream and swamp borders. Distribution, Virginia to Texas near coast; north to Arkansas.

The red bay is a handsome tree deserving more extensive cultivation for its clean, leathery foliage, which is red when it opens and yellow before it dies. The brilliant dark green mass is lightened in summer by the pale leaf linings. The red bark probably gives the name its distinguishing adjective. The leaf is not unlike that of Laurus nobilis, the familiar tub laurel of hotel verandas.

This lover of rich, wet soil is occasionally discovered growing wild among long-leaf pines in dry, sandy loam--a most encouraging fact for anyone who wishes to grow the tree in ordinary well-drained soil. The berries are handsome but not showy. The wood was once used for boatbuilding, but is now devoted to interior house finishing and fancy articles of furniture. It is comparatively rare in use.

The Swamp Bay (P. pubescens, Sarg.) is a slender tree, rarely 40 feet high, that frequently crowds out all other undergrowth in pine barren swamps along the coast from North Carolina to Mississippi. Its densely woolly opening shoots and leaf veins, and the dull brown bark distinguish it from the previous species, as do also the long stalks on which the flowers and berries are borne.

The Avocado, or Alligator Pear (P. gratissima, Gaertn.), grows wild in the West Indies, Brazil, Peru and Mexico. It is cultivated in Florida and southern California. The berry in this species has the size and the shape of a Kieffer pear. It has smooth, greenish-purple skin, and a yellow pulp, soft and oily like marrow, surrounds the single giant seed. The flavour is peculiar, and strangers to it have to acquire a liking for it. When this preliminary step is taken, they often become extremely fond of it. It is usually cut in two like a melon, and eaten as a salad, dressed with vinegar, salt and pepper.

The abundant oil expressed from these pears is used in soap making and for illumination. The seeds yield a black dye that is converted into an indelible ink. The growing of the trees is easy and profitable. They begin to fruit in about five years from seed.