666 ARBORETUM AND FRUTICETUM. PART III. 
of the British palace at Constantinople has 
a trunk 1 ft. in diameter. The foliage, he 
says, is highly susceptible of the variations 
of the atmosphere. It affords a thick 
shade on a bright day; but, when it 
threatens rain, or when a cloud obscures 
the sun, the leaflets immediately close 
their lower surfaces together till the sun 
again appears. This beautiful phenome- 
non takes place, also, with all the New 
Holland species in which the leaves are 
not caducous, and more particularly with 
A, dealbata. A. Julibrissin was introduced 
into England in 1745, and is occasionally 
met with in collections. There is a large 
specimen of it in the Botanic Garden at 
Kew, which flowers frequently in Au- 
gust. There is one in the Fulham Nursery which also flowers. One in 
the Horticultural Society’s Garden has not yet flowered. In the Bristol Nur- 
sery, there is one against a house, 20 ft. high, which is covered with a pro- 

fusion of flowers every year. In the English garden at Caserta, near Naples, © 
there is a tree which was upwards of 40ft. high in January, 1835; and, at 
Monza, there is one, 24 years planted, which is also 40 ft. high. 
A. decirrens Willd., Mimdsa decirrens Vent. Mail.,t.61., has leaves with 9—11 pairs of pinne, 
each pinna bearing 30—40 pairs of narrow, linear, distant leaflets. It was introduced from New 
Holland in 1790, and flowers from May to July. It grows to the height of 20 ft. 
A. mollissima Willd., A. dectirrens var. 8 méllis Bot. Reg., t. 371., A. méllis Sw., (FU. Austr., t.12., 
and our figs. 392, 393.) ; closely resembles A. decirrens, and appears to us only a variety of that species. 
eae in 1810; grows to the height of 20 ft. ; and produces its yellow flowersin July and 
A. dealbata Link Enum., ii. p. 445. 393 
(Don’s Mill., ii. p. 420., and the plate 
of this tree in our Second Volume) 
is the A.affi‘nis of many British nur- 
series, and the black wattle mimosa 
of Van Diemen’s Land. The origin 45 
of the specific name affinis is thus QS <\p, 
given by Dr. Neill, in Gard. Mag., Way re) 
vol. xi, p. 432.:—“ A. affinis seems Gy 
to bea variety of A. mollissima Willd. ; <x 
which variety Link regarded as ag; 
: species, and called 4. dealbata, but 
which De Candolle, in his Prodromus, marks as ‘ Priori (A. mollissimze) nimis 
affinis ;’ meaning that, though he had followed Link in calling it a species, 
he considered it too nearly allied to A.mollissima to be so in reality: from 
which, apparently, some person fancied the word affinis to be a specific name, 
and adopted it accordingly.” A. dealbata has the leaves with 15 pairs of pinnz 
and the flowers in lateral racemes. It is one of the hardiest species of the 
genus, and also one of the most rapid growth. It has been tried in the open 
air, as a standard, in various parts of Britain; and has stood out for several win- 
ters, and, in some places, grown to the height of 30 ft. There are three or four 
trees of this species in the garden of the London Horticultural Society, some 
of which are upwards of 20 ft. high; and none of them have been killed by the 
severe frosts of January, 1836. Some trees in the Kew Botanic Garden have 
stood out uninjured since 1828. In the Norwich Nursery, a tree, in November, 
1834, was 16 ft. high; the trunk 5 in. in diameter; and the diameter of the 
head 12ft. It grows in a light loam, with a sandy subsoil, and in a northern 
exposure. It had attained that height in 4 years after being planted out; and 
it flowers profusely in April, and sometimes ripens seeds. This tree was unin- 
jured by the winter of 1835-6 ; another tree of the same species, and of nearly 




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