40 The Ottawa Naturalist. [June-July 



The Europ linden, T. europea, is distinguished by its 



smaller and more regularly heart-shaped leaves. 



Oleace^e. 



The family is represented by the Ash, Fraxinus, of which the 

 common White Ash, F. americana, is the best species. The bark 

 is a brownish-grey tinged with red. It is furrowed on old trees, 

 but smoother on the upper branches. This is a forest tree, but 

 is well adapted to city life. Its lower branches have the com- 

 pound curve. They can be pruned off. and leave a tall, 

 columnar stem reaching above the highest dwellings and casting a 

 grateful shade. 



Bignoniacejs. 



Represented by the Catawba or Catalpa, C. speciosa. 

 The bark is very rugged. The pods remain on the tree all winter 

 and appear to be longer in the cultivated tree than in the wild 

 one. They grow nearly a foot long. The fragrant flowers grow 

 in an erect terminal panicle somewhat like the horse-chestnut, 

 and are very beautiful. Two large specimens of this tree grow 

 in front of the porch at Rideau Hall. 



There are two trees, both closely related to the evergreens, 

 that deserve to be more commonly planted as shade trees. One 

 is the European Larch, Larix Europea, which is of a deeper 

 shade of green than our native larch, L. laricina ; its needles are a 

 trifle longer, its branches droop more, and its cones are longer, 

 and have more scales. 



Finally, the Japanese Ginko tree or Maidenhair Tree, Ginko 

 bilobata, although a slow grower, is quite hardy and deserves 

 special mention as a shade tree. The terminal twigs are upright. 

 In summer, when clothed in its bright green, thickish leaves, 

 it is indeed very beautiful. The leaves somewhat resemble the 

 leaflets of ourMaidenhair Fern, hence its common name. 



USEFUL WILD PLANTS OF CANADA. 



By J. W. Eastham, B.Sc. 



With a flora so extensive and as yet so little studied from 

 an economic point of view as that of Canada, it is reasonable to 

 expect that future investigation will bring to light many plants 

 of economic value amongst those which at present we do not 

 consider useful. A brief account indicating the richness of our 

 flora in such useful plants, even with our present knowledge, 

 may help to stimulate interest and enquiry in this direction. 



