662 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
It will grow in a warm situation in the open border, and requires only a slight protection during the 
most severe winter. 
Acacia Neck, This is a very extensive genus of shrubs or trees, with beautiful foliage and flowers, 
and of intense interest to the British gardener, because, in mild winters, they are found to live in the 
open air, as standards, attain a tree-like size in 2 or 3 years, and flower profusely, very early in 
the spring. They are all of easy propagation, either by cuttings or from seeds, either imported or 
produced in this country ; and their growth isso rapid, that plants 2 years established have been 
known to make shoots 16 ft. long in one season. In dry sandy soils, and in sheltered situations, the 
greater number of the species of Acacia might be grown together as a wood or thicket, by which 
means the plants would protect one another; and though their tops might be annually killed down 
for 2 ft. or 3 ft. by the frost, yet, the dead portions being cut off annually in May, the plants would grow 
again with vigour. An Australian forest might not be realised in this way in Ena dod, but some al- 
lusion might be created to an Australian coppice wood. The genus Acacia, which, as G. Don observes, 
is a very polymorphous one, and may probably hereafter be separated into several genera, when the 
species are more perfectly known, is divided into numerous sections, from which we shall select a 
few species, and refer the reader for the rest to our Hortus Britannicus. 
1, Phyllodinee. 
Sect. Char. Leaves of two forms: those in seedling plants are bipinnate; but in adult plants the 
leaflets are abortive, and there only remains the dilated petiole, which is called a phyllodium. 
The species are mostly natives of New Holland. (Don’s Miil., ii. p. 401.) 
A. Capitate. Flowers collected into globular Heads ; Heads solitary on 
the Peduncles. 
a. Stipules aculeate. 
A. alata R. Br. (Bot. Reg.,396., and our fig. 371.) Stem bifariously winged; dilated petiole de- 
current, 1-nerved, ending in a spine at the apex. Heads of flowers solitary, or in pairs. A native of 
New Holland, on the western coast. Introduced in 1803, and flowering from April to July. It grows 
to the height of 6 ft. or 10 ft. 
A. armata R. Br. (Bot. Mag., 1653., and our fig. 372.) has the phyllodia, or dilated petioles, ob- 
\ 371 Ny 

liquely ovate-oblong; the heads of flowers solitary, and the legumes velvety. This is a well-known 
inhabitant of our green-houses, in which it flowers from April to June, and frequently ripens seeds. 
It is a native of the southern coast of New Holland, and was introduced in 1803. It grows to 
the height of 8 ft. or 10 ft. in pots, and in a cold-pit, or against a wall: it requires only to have the 
frost excluded. There is a plant 10ft. high, against a wall, in the Chelsea Botanic Garden; and 
there is one at Cuffnells, in Hampshire, which hasstood | 
against a wall with a north aspect since 1832, pro- 
tected with a mat during frosty weather; and flower- 
ing freely in February, March, and April. In the 
Upway Nursery, near Dorchester, plants have stood 
in the open border for 5 years, and have ripened seeds, 
which have dropped, and produced young plants. At 
Airthrey Castle, Stirlingshire, a plant of A. armata 
stood out against a wallf without the slightest protec- 
tion, during the winters of 1823 and 1834; and, in 
1835, was 4 ft. high. 
A. junipérina Willd., Mimdsa junipeérina Vent. Ii., 
M. wiicifolia Wendl., A. verticillata Steb. (Bot. Cab., 
t. 398., and our jig. 373.) is a native of the eastern coast 
of New Holland; which was introduced in 1790; and 
grows to the height of 8 ft. or 10ft. It flowers from March to July ; and sometimes, in fine seasons, 
ripens seed. 

b. Stipules not aculeate, and either very small or wanting. 
A. diffusa Ker (Bot. Reg., t. 634.), A. prostrata Lodd. (Bot. Cab., t. 631., and oun s. 374, 375.), has 
the dilated petioles linear, and the branches diffusely procumbent. It is a native o: or South Wales, 
on the Blue Mountains ; was introduced in 1818 ; and Howers from April to June. 
A. stricta Willd., Mimdsa stricta Bot. Mag., t. 1121., and our figs. 376, 377., is an upright-growing 
shrub, from the eastern coast of New Holland, flowering from February to May. It was introduced 
in 1690, and grows to the height of 6 ft. 
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