The Edge of the Forest (3.24604)
Date: 1944Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustrations of thirteen different trees and plants of the forest edge, created to accompany "The Edge of the Forest" article featured in Morton Arboretum Bulletin of Popular Information. Drawings show species-specific seeds, flowers, trees, leaves, twigs and stems for each plant in columns and rows across the page. Some identifying text exists. The remaining identifying text originally adhered to the board has detached and is no longer present.
Header: THE EDGE of the FOREST
- includes generalized sketch of trees and other plants across the top
- Bird-distributed seeds
- Bee-pollenated flowers
- Protection from Grazers
- Armor
- Bitter Taste
- Rosa setigera -- Prairie rose
- Prunus americana -- Wild plum
- Rosa carolina -- Pasture rose
- Malus ioensis -- Wild crab
- Crataegus punctata -- Dotted hawthorn
- Rubus alligheniensis -- Blackberry
- Rubus occidentalis -- Blackcap raspberry
- Rhus glabra -- Smooth sumac
- Ribes cynosbati -- Gooseberry
- Cornus racemosa -- Gray dogwood
- Prunus virginiana -- Choke cherry
- Sambucus canadensis -- Elderberry
- Prunus serotina -- Black cherry
Extent: 1 sheet
Fragrance and Flavor in Leaf, Bark, Twig, and Fruit (3.24626)
Date: 1943Creator: 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
- 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
- Juniper - a pleasant aromatic taste
- Sumac - a berry on the tongue gives a taste of "Indian lemonade"
- Balm of gilead - resinous and strongly aromatic
- Flowering quince - good to put in a pocket, or with hankerchiefs
Extent: 1 sheet
Landscape with Houses and Trees (3.24647)
Date: 20th centuryCreator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Illustration of a hilly landscape with five houses, pasture, fences, farm land, a lake, a stream, a bridge, roads, a water wheel, and many trees. Trees are drawn to indicate general shape and each tree is identified. NATURE STUDY GUILD is stamped in purple on piece of board and glued at top right.
Trees depicted:
White pine -- Spruce -- Austrian pine -- Pear -- Sassafras -- Sumac -- Black willows -- Box elder --
Apple -- Red cedar -- Norway pine -- Yellow birch -- Black walnut -- Sour gum -- White cedar -- Poison sumac -- Tamarack -- White ash -- Chestnut oak -- Blue ash -- Red oak -- Beech -- Shagbark hickory -- Mockernut hickory -- Red maple -- Pignut hickory -- Wafer ash -- River birch -- Buckeye --
Shingle oak -- Bur oak -- Linden -- Cherry birch -- Shadbush -- Hill's oak -- White oak -- Sugar maple -- Black locust -- Black cherry -- Large-toothed poplar -- Cottonwood -- Waahoo -- Trembling aspen -- Witch-hazel -- Flowering dogwood -- Ironwood -- Chestnut -- Pin cherry -- Choke cherry -- Wild crab -- Wild plum -- Redbud -- Water beech -- Balm of Gilead -- Red mulberry -- Tulip tree -- Sycamore -- Bitternut hickory -- Slippery elm -- Butternut -- Swamp white -- Kentucky coffee tree -- Red ash -- Honey locust -- Hawthorne -- Lombardy poplars -- European alder -- Black ash -- Osage orange hedge -- Ailanthus -- Paw-paw -- Hackberry -- White birch -- American elm -- Catalpa -- Norway maple -- Weeping willow -- White wilow -- Pin oak -- Horse chestnut -- Mountian ash -- Pussy willow -- Fir -- Ginkgo -- Silver maple -- Scotch pine -- Silver poplar
Extent: 1 sheet
Forest Nature Trail Guide, page 7 illustrations and layout with preliminary sketches (3.24657)
Date: 1946Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:Sheet One: Original illustrations and layout for page 7, excluding text, for The Morton Arboretum Forest Nature Trail Guide booklet. Key lines included.
Illustrated stumps with numbers indicate points of interest along trail as seen on trail map.
Tree stump #14: Wild Black Cherry
Identifying characteristics for berries and leaves illustrated to the right.
Tree stump #15: The Edge of the Forest
Illustrated to the right includes plants associated with the forest edge
- Generalized illustration of a row of trees
- Identifying characteristics of blackberry, plum, hawthorn, crab, and gooseberry thorns
- Identifying characteristics of chokecherry and sumac leaves
- Identifying characteristics of rose, black berry, plum, and crab flowers
- Identifying characteristics of rose, black berry, plum, and crab fruits
Identifying characteristics for a two-lipped flower, square stem, and opposite leaves illustrated to the right.
Sheet Two: Preliminary sketch of green-colored illustrations.
Extent: 2 sheets
Tree Portraits: Black Cherry (3.31885)
Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Painting
Description:Color silhouette of a black cherry tree, including a nature print outline of a leaf.
Extent: 1 sheet
Trees Native To This Region (3.33823)
Creator: Watts, May Theilgaard
Type: Drawing
Description:A large illustration depicting a cross-section of hill with several types of trees growing down its slope. The trees are drawn in silhouette and are grouped into four categories based on location. Each tree is also accompanied by a line of color across the top indicating the color of its leaves in Fall as well as an outline of its leaf below.
Header:
- TREES NATIVE TO THIS REGION
- THE COLOR LINE OVER EACH TREE / INDICATES ITS CHARACTERISTIC / FALL COLORING. NATIVE TREES / GIVE US THE BEST COLOR
- TREES OF OUR UPLANDS
- witch-hazel -- white oak -- red oak -- Hill's oak -- sugar maple -- ironwood -- shadbush -- shagbark hickory -- black cherry -- blue ash -- bur oak -- white ash -- linden
- TREES of the EDGE of the FOREST
- aspen -- sumac -- choke cherry -- wild crabapple -- hawthorn -- wild plum
- TREES of our LOWLANDS
- black ash -- slippery elm -- American elm -- walnut -- hackberry -- cottonwood -- black willow -- silver maple
- TREES of our SWAMPS
- [sour gum] tupelo -- yellow birch -- tamarack -- red maple -- poison sumac
Extent: 1 sheet
Uses of Wood Exhibit: Black Cherry (3.34386)
Date: September 4 1974Creator: Stickney, William S.
Type: Photographic image
Description:A diorama from the Uses of Wood exhibit, depicting an example of how black cherry wood is used in items such as furniture.
Extent: 1 slide
The Morton Arboretum Quarterly V. 05 No. 02 (3.34567)
Date: June 21 – September 20 1969Type: Serial
Description:
- The Country in the City (17-21)
- European Larch, Larix decidua: Pine Family (Pinaceae) (22-23)
- Flower Baskets Found in Books (24-31)
- Arboretum News and Notes/ Climatological Summary (32)
Extent: 16 pages