58 



SILVA OF NORTH AMERICA. 



TILIACEiE- 



dry wood weighing 26.51 pounds. It is confounded commercially with the wood of Tilia Americana 

 and is used for the same i^urposes. 



Tilia heterophylla was first distinguished by the French botanist Yentenat/ whose monooraph of 

 the genus Tiha was published in 1802. It had been previously introduced into European o^ardeus bv 

 the elder Michaux^ and by Fraser^ although the fact that two species of TiHa were growing in the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains seems to have escaped their notice, as w^ell as that of the other botanists who visited 

 that part of the country before the beginning of the present centmy. 



Tilia heterophylla probably soon disappeared from gardens ; and in cultivation it is still one of 

 the rarest of the trees which inhabit the cooler parts of North America. Few North American trees 

 howeverj surpass it in beauty of foliage j and the contrast made by the silvery wdaiteness of the under 

 surface of its ample leaves^ as they flutter on their slender stems^ with the dark green of the Hemlocks 

 and Laurels on the banks of rapid mountain streams, produces one of the most beautiful effects which 

 can be seen in the splendid forests which clothe the valleys of the southern Appalachian Mountains. 



1 Etienne Pierre Ventenat (1757-1808) ; a distinguished French 

 botanist, author of several Important works, the best known being 

 Lis Description dea Plantes Nouvelles ou pen Connues, Cultive'es dans 

 le Jardin de J. M. Cels^ published in Paris in 1800, and the sump- 

 tuous Jardin de la Malmaison, published in Paris in 1803-4, under 

 the auspices of the Empress Josephine* 



2 Andr^ Michaux (174G-1802) ; a French botanist who resided 

 in America from 1785 to 1796, for the purpose of studying for the 

 French government the plants and natural resources of the country, 

 Michaux traveled extensively in the region east of the Mississippi 



Eiver, from Hudson's Bay to Florida, and discovered many plants 

 afterwards described by A, Richard in the Flora Boreali- Americana, 

 published in Paris in 1803, Michaux's name as author appears on 

 the title-page of this classical work, which was not published until 

 after his death, and upon that of the Histoire des Chenes de VAme- 

 riquej published in 1801, after Miebaux had left France for Mada- 

 gascar, where be died of fever. The journal of his travels in 

 America, presented by his son, F. A. Michaux, to the American 

 Philosophical Society, was published in 1889 in volume xxvi. of the 

 Proceedings of that society. 



EXPLANATION OF THE PLATE. 



Plate XXVIL Tilia heterophylla. 



1- A cluster of flowers^ with its pedunculate bract. 



2. Vertical section of a flower, enlarged, 



3. A fruiting branch. 



4- Cross section of a fruitj with two seeds developed, enlarged. 



5, A seed, enlarged* 



6, Vertical section of a seedj enlarged. 



