FLORA'S LEXICON. 199 



YCAMORE. Acer Pseuda-platanus. Class 

 23, Polyoamia. Order: Moncecla. There 

 are two varieties of the sycamore tree, one 

 with broader leaves, and one of which the 

 leaves are variegated. The timber is very 

 close and compact, easily cut, and not liable 

 either to splinter or to warp. Sometimes it 

 is of uniform colour, and sometimes it is very beautifully curled 

 and mottled. In the latter state, as it takes a fine polish, and 

 bears varnishing well, it is much used for certain parts of musical 

 instruments. 



WOODLAND BEAUTY. 



Nor less attractive is the woodland scene, 



Diversified with trees of every growth, 



Alike, yet various. Here the grey smooth trunks 



Of ash, or lime, or beech, distinctly shine 



Within the twilight of their distant shades ; 



There, lost behind a rising ground, the wood 



Seems sunk, and shorten'd to its topmost boughs. 



No tree in all the groves but has its charms, 



Though each its hue peculiar, paler some, 



And of a wannish grey ; the willow such, 



And poplar that with silver lines his leaf, 



And ash, far stretching his umbrageous arm; 



Of deeper green the elm : and deeper still, 



Lord of the wood, the long-surviving oak. 



Some glossy-leaved, and shining in the sun, 



The maple, and the beech of oily nuts 



Prolific, and the lime at dewy eve 



Diffusing odours: nor unnoted pass 



The sycamore, capricious in attire, 



Now green, now tawny, and ere autumn yet 



Have changed the wood, in scarlet honours bright. 



COWPER. 



