Fragrance and Flavor in Leaf, Bark, Twig, and Fruit (3.24626)

Date: 1943
Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of variety of leaves, buds, plant habits and bark, created to accompany " Fragrance and Flavor in Leaf, Bark, Twig, and Fruit" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information.  Includes identifying illustrations of source trees and identifying text in pen and ink.

Divided into five sections, from top to bottom, left to right:

1) FRAGRANCE IN BRUISED LEAVES

• Sweetbriar - fragrance of green apple sauce
• Sweet shrub - scent of strawberries
• Fragrant sumac - aromatic with a trace of lemon
• Bayberry - aromatic with a hint of balsam
• Mother-of-thyme - fragrant, with a suggestion of new lumber
• Jeffrey pine - a sharp tang of orange peel
• Arbor vitae - in hot sun a smell of "wild strawberries with a hint of resin" - Wilder
• Balsam fir - aromatic and spicy
• Sweet cicely - odor of anise, or licorice
• Sassafras - "fragrance of lemon and a thousand spices" - Thoreau
• Sweet bay - a culinary fragrance reminiscent of soups and stews
• Spice-bush - smooth aroma of mingled spices
• Hay-scented fern - fragrance of new-mown hay
• Sweet fern - resinous and spicy
• Southernwood - smooth sweet fragrance
• Chaste tree - mint with a hint of spice

2) FLAVOR IN TWIGS AND BARK

• Cherry birch - cool, smooth flavor of wintergreen
• Yellow birch - mild taste of wintergreen
• Black cherry - taste of bitter almond
• Slippery elm - inner bark pleasantly mucilaginous

3) FLAVOR IN FRUIT

• Juniper - a pleasant aromatic taste
• Sumac - a berry on the tongue gives a taste of "Indian lemonade"

4) A FRAGRANT BUD

• Balm of gilead - resinous and strongly aromatic

5) A FRAGRANT FRUIT

• Flowering quince - good to put in a pocket, or with hankerchiefs

Extent: 1 sheet

The Christmas Trees (3.24630)

Date: 1945
Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustration of seven evergreen trees, created to accompany "The Evergreen Trees" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Illustrations include full trees with needle illustrations below divided into sections according to needles, twigs, and branches. The identifying text originally adhered to the board has detached and is no longer present. 

[Original header (not included with art): THE "CHRISTMAS TREES"]

Trees depicted, from left to right:

• Norway spruce -- Picea abies
• Colorado spruce -- Picea pungens
• White spruce -- Picea glauca
• Hemlock -- Tsuga canadensis
• White fir -- Abies concolor
• Balsam fir -- Abies balsamea
• Douglas fir -- Pseudotsuga taxifolia

Extent: 1 sheet

Evergreen Nature Trail Guide, page 15 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24689)

Date: 1940s
Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 15, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Evergreen Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.

Tree stump #36: Balsam Fir
Illustration of cone cutout detached - see note below

Tree stump #37: We All Depend on Evergreens
Includes generalized illustrated identifying characteristics of various trees below, labeled as follows: Oak, Gum, Maple, Other hardwoods, Yellow Pines, Douglas Fir, Ponderosa pine, White pine, Hemlock, Redwood, Spruce, Cypress, Other softwoods.

Single cutout illustration depicting cone characteristics originally adhered to board has detached and is no longer present.

Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets, 1 cutout

Leaf Prints: Balsam Fir (3.27691)

Date: circa 1950
Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Print
Description:A white negative nature print of balsam fir needle-like leaves and stems on a dark background with identifying text at bottom right handwritten by May T. Watts.

Identifying text: 

• Fir balsam
• Abies balsamea

Extent: 1 sheet

Trees Native To North America But Not To This Region That Can Be Grown Here (3.33821)

Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:A large illustration depicting a bird's-eye view of three sets of houses and yards with different types of trees growing in each. The trees are drawn in silhouette.

Header: 

• TREES NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICAN BUT NOT TO THIS REGION / THAT CAN BE GROWN HERE

Types of trees depicted:

arborvitae  -- Osage-orange -- black locust -- hemlock -- gray birch -- Jeffrey pine -- flowering dogwood -- redbud -- tulip-tree -- pitch pine -- mountain-ash -- persimmon -- pawpaw -- red mulberry -- douglas-fir -- white spruce -- red-cedar -- [concolor] white fir -- balsam fir -- [Colorado] blue spruce -- jack pine -- paper birch -- magnolia -- white pine -- red pine -- beech -- limber pine -- ponderosa pine -- sycamore -- catalpa -- Ohio buckeye -- Pin oak
Extent: 1 sheet