258 ARBORETUM ET FRUTICETUM BRITANNICUM.
beautiful object in spring, especially w'hen it is covered with its numerous bright
purplish pink flowers, which appear before the leaves, and are produced not
only from the young wood, but from wood o f 6 or 8 years growth, and even
from the trunk. The leaves are not liable to be attacked by insects. The
flowers are succeeded by flat, thin, brown pods, nearly 6 in. in length, which
remain on the tree all the year, and give it a very singular appearance in the
winter season. The rate o f growth is about 18 in. a year, for the first 10 years.
The wood is very hard, and agreeably veined, or rather blotched or waved,
with black, green, and yellow spots, on a grey ground. It takes a beautiful
polish, and weighs nearly 48 lb. to the cubic foot. The flowers, which have
an agreeable acid taste, are mixed with salads, or fried with batter, as fritters ;
and the flower-buds are pickled in vinegar. In British gardens, the tree grows
about the same height, and flowers about the same time, as the laburnum, the
Guelder rose, and the hawthorn, and enters into beautiful combination with
these and other tree.s. The foliage is hardly less beautiful and remarkable than
the flowers ; the leaves being o f a pale bluish green on the upper surface ; and
o f a sea-green underneath, and o f a cordate reniform shape, apparently consisting
ot two leaflets joined together; which circumstance, combined with
others, brings the genus in close alliance with that o f Bauhinia. Like, most o f
the Legurainàceæ, this tree prefers a deep, free, sandy soil, rich rather than
poor ; and it will only thrive, and become a handsome tree, in sheltered situations.
In the northern parts o f the island, it requires to be planted against a
wall ; and few ornamental trees better deserve such a situation. The species
is propagated by seeds, and the varieties by grafting. The seeds are sown on
heat early in spring, and come up the same season ; and the plants will produce
flowers in three or four years.
Ï 2. C. c a n a d e ' n s i s L. The Canada Judas Tree.
Identification. Lin. Sp., 534. ; De c. P ro d ,, 2. p. 518. ; D o n ’s Mill., 2. p . 463.
S yn om jm es. S iliÿ iâ s trum co rd à tum Moench Meth. ; re d B ird T re e , Am e r . ; G a in ie r de Canada
B outon rouge, Fr.
E n p avm g s. Mill. Icon., t. 2. ; th e p la te o f th is species in Arb. B rit,, 1st ed it., vol. v. ; an d o u r
Spec. Char., 4 c . Leaves acuminate, villose beneath a t th e axils of the veins.
As compared with C. iSiliquàstruni, its flowers are o f a paler rose colour,
the legume is on a longer pedicel, and tipped with a longer style. A low
tree. C a n a d a to Virginia. (D e c . P ro d .) Height 10 ft. to 20 ft. In tro d . 17.30.
Flowers red ; May and Ju n e. ; Legume brown ; ripe in August.
Variety.
¥ C. c. pubéscens P h . — Leaves pubescent on th e under surface. {D e c .)
This tree bears a general resemblance to th e preceding species ; b u t it is
more slender and smaller in all its parts ; and it seldom rises higher than 20
feet. I t is a t once distinguished from C. 5'iliquàstrum by its leaves being
heart-shaped and pointed ; they are also .much thinner, more veined, and o f a
lighter green ; and the flowers are generally produced in smaller numbers
than in the othe r species. T h e flowers are used by the French Canadians in
salads and pickles, and th e young branches to dye wool o f a nankeen colour.
The wood resembles th a t o f the o th e r species. Propagated by imported
seeds, and considered more ten d e r than C. ¿'iliquastrum.
4S0. Cércis canAdénsig.
Order XXVI. -ROSA'CEÆ.
T h e term Po sà ceæ has been applied to this order, because all the species
belonging to it agree more or less with th e genus P ò s a , in essential characters.
I t includes many genera belonging to th e Linnæan class Icosândria.
Ord. Char. Flou’a s regular. Calyx, in most cases, with 5 lobes, the odd one
posterior to th e axis o f inflorescence. Petals and stamens arising from the
calyx. Stamens, for th e most part, numerous. Ovaries many, several, or
solitary ; each of one cell th a t includes, in most cases, 1 ovule ; in some,
1 to many ovules. Style lateral or terminal.
Leaves simple, or pinnately divided, alternate, in nearly all .stipulate.
Floivers showy, with numerous stamens. Fruit, in many o f the genera, edible.
—Trees and shrubs, m ostly deciduous ; natives of Europe, Asia, and A merica.
The ligneous species which co n stitu te this order include the finest flowering
shrub in th e world, th e ro s e ; and the trees which produce th e most
useful and agreeable fruits o f temperate climates, viz. th e apple, the pear, the
plum, the cherry, th e apricot, th e peach, and th e nectarine. The plants are,
for the most part, deciduous low trees or shrubs, all producing flowers more
or less showy ; and th e greater number fruits which are edible. They are
chiefly natives o f E u ro p e and Asia ; but several of them are also found in
North America, and some in South America, and th e North o f Africa. The
fruit-bearing species, and th e rose, have followed man from th e earliest period
of civilisation, and are, perhaps, b e tte r known to mankind in general than any
other ligneous plants. T h e medical properties o f several of th e species are
remarkable, from the circumstance o f their yielding the prussic acid ; while
others produce a gum nearly allied to th e gum Arabic, which inilicates a
degree of affinity between this ord e r and Legiiminàceæ. The bark o f some
species, as of Cérasus virginiàna, is used, in North America, as a febrifuge ;
and th a t of others, as th e ca|)oll!n cherry (Cérasus Capôllin), l'or tanning,
in Mexico. The leaves o f Cratæ'gus Oxyacantha, P rim u s spinósa, Céra.sus
sylvéstris, and P ò s a rubiginòsa, have been used as a substitute for tea, or for
adulterating tea. The leaves and bark o f the spiræas are said to be at once
astringent and emetic. Th e re are two characteristics of this order, with
reference to its cultivation, which are of great importance to th e gardener :
the first is, th e liability of almost all th e species to sport, ami produce
varieties differing, in many cases, more from one another, tlian they difler
from other species ; and th e second is, th a t they are remarkably subject to
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