Karla Huffman, age 12, of Asbury Park, N.J., for her question:

HOW TALL DOES THE SOURWOOD TREE GROW?

The sourwood tree is a beautiful tree of the heath family. It grows in the woods of the southern United States and as far. north as Pennsylvania, Indiana and Ohio. The tree grows to be 50 to 60 feet tall.

The sourwood is also called the sorrel tree.

The name 'sourwood' comes from the taste of the tree's leaves and twigs, which hunters and woodsmen sometimes chew when they are thirsty. The name 'sorrel' comes from an Old French word which means 'sour.'

The sorrel or sourwood has reddish gray bark and smooth, oblong

leaves. In summer it bears graceful clusters of small, bell shaped, white flowers which are soon followed by little downy capsules. In spring, the foliage is bronze green but in autumn it turns a very brilliant scarlet.

The wood of the sourwood or sorrel is sometimes used to make handles for tools. The leaves furnish a black dye.