662 



ARBORETUM AND FRLTICETUM. 



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 is so 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 ,-/c5cia 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 S ft. or o ft. by the frost, yet, the dead portions being cut off" annually in Alay, the plants would grow 

 again with vigour. An Australian forest might not be realised in this way in England, but some al- 

 lusion might be created to an Australian coppice wood. The genus .^chcia, which, as (i. Don observes, 

 is a very polymorphous one, and may probably hereafter bo 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. Pht/llodhiccr. 



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 Mil/., ii. p. 401.) 



A. Cfipitdtcc. 



Flowers collected into globular Heads ; Heads solitarij on 

 the Peduncles. 



a. Sdpules aculeate. 



petiole de- 

 A native of 

 ly. It grows 



A. atata R. Br. {Bot. 7?<-^. , ,'31'fi. , and ourjf^. 371.1 Stem bifariously winged ; dilated 

 current, 1. nerved, ending in a .spine at the apex. Heads of flowers solitary, or in pairs. 

 Now Holland, on the western coast. Introduced in 180J, and flowering from April to Ju 

 to the height of 6 ft. or 10 ft. 



A. armdla R. Br. {Bot. Mag., 1653., and oiir^. Tc2.) has the phyllodia, or dilated petioles, ob- 



371 



liqucly 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 IMi.i. 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 10 ft. high, against a wall, in the Chelsea Botanic Garden; and 

 there is one at Cufliiells, in Hampshire, which has stood . , 

 against a wall with a north asi)ccl 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 s*oo<l 

 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. armJita 

 stood out against a wall, without the slightest protec- 

 tion, during the winters of 1833 and 1834; and, in 

 1835, was 4 ft. high 



A.liinipen'na Willd., Mimbsa Juniperina Vint. III., 

 M. i/liciR)Iia tfcndl., A. verticillkta Sicb. [Bot. Cab., 

 t. 398., and our fig. Sli■'^ is a native of the eastern coast 

 of New Holland ; which was introduced in 1790 ; and 

 grows to the height of 8 ft. or 10 ft. It flowers from March to July ; and sometimes, in fine seasons, 

 ripens seed. 



b. Stipules not aculeate, and either very small or tvanting. 



A. diff^tsa Ker {Bot. Beg., t. (>'34.1, A. prostrita Lodd. Bot. Cab., t. 63'., and our figs. 374, .375.), has 

 the dilated petioles linear, and the branches diflfusely procumbent. It is a native of New South Wales, 

 on the Blue Mountains ; was introduced in 1818 ; and flowers from April to June. 



A. stricta Willd., Mimbsa stricta Bot. Mag., t. 1121., and our figs. 376, 377., is an upright-growing 

 shrub, from the eastern coa.st of New Holland, flowering from February to May. It was introduced 

 in 1690, and grows to the height of 6 ft. 



