114 THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



two or three times that number. Of course this snow melts 

 under the morning sun. By 9 o'clock in the morning the 

 glory is departed, although the fcjllowing night may see it 

 restored. The plant blossoms tw'o nights in succession, Avith 

 perhaps a few belated flowers for the third night, or a few 

 that anticipate the general blossomings — then there will be 

 a rest while a new crop of buds develops. The flowers are 

 provided each with a score of stigmas and a thousand 

 stamens (by actual ccnmt) ; they are visited by swarms of 

 honev bees and bv other insects, and yet very rarely indeed 

 is fruit matured. Only twice in thirty years, I believe, has 

 fruit appeared, a ver}- few each time, on the hedge I have 

 just spoken of. 



But trees vie with vines and humbler plants in decking 

 themselves in livelv colors. With us in the temperate zone, 

 the 1:)l()Ssoming time of a tree is of necessity short, and it 

 must come generally not later than June or early July. The 

 flowers, if colored at all, are generally white, the Tulip tree, 

 Judas tree and a few Rosaceae forming the {)rincipal exep- 

 tions. Among tropical trees the col()rs are often brilliant, 

 and the blossoming season may l)e greatly prolonged, and 

 trees of the same species do not necessarily [)ut forth their 

 blossoms the same week or the same month even. 



It is trees of the Cassia family (Caesalpineae) especial- 

 ly, that light up with (!olor the spacious grounds around Hon- 

 olulu residences. Yellows are perhaps the most common. 

 The species of Cassia, wdiich are shrubs or shrubby climbers 

 rather than trees have all yellow flowers, and most of them 

 are perennial blossomers. The Cacsalpinias are sometimes 

 shrubs, sometimes large trees, the blossoms being again com- 

 monly yellow. A very beautiful tree of this genus is the so- 

 called yellow poinciana, with its massive head of finely cut 

 foliage, the ample flower clusters giving w^ay to purple pods so 



