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 jxre 

 not caducous, and more particularly with 

 A. dealbata. A. Ju'tibrUsin was introduced 

 into England in 17+5, 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 Cascrta, near Naples, 

 there is a tree which was upwards of 40 ft. high in January, 1835; and, at 

 Monza, there is one, 24 years planted, which is also 40 ft. high. 



A deairrcni Willd., Minios.i decCirrons Vimt. Ma/.,t. fil., has leaves with 9—11 pairs of pinni, 

 each pinna bearing :iO—Ai) pairs of narrow, linear, distant leaflets. It was introduced from New 

 Holland in 170<), and flowers from May to July. It grows to the height of 2n ft. „, ^ ^ ^ ,„ 



A mollissimn Willd., A. decunens var. ^ mollis Hot. Hcj-., t. 371., A. mollis Sxu., (Ft. Aiisfr., t. 12., 

 andour^« 392 3').)); closely resembles A. deciirrens, and appears to us only a variety of that species. 

 It was introduced in 1810; grows to the height of 20 ft. ; and produces its yellow flowers in July and 

 August 



A. dcalhata Link Enum., ii. p. 445. '^^-^ 

 (Doll's Mil/., ii. p. 420., and the plate 

 of this tree in our Second Volume) 

 is the //. affi'iiis of many British nur- 

 series, and the black wattle mimosa 

 of Van Diemen's Land. The origin ^ 

 of the specific name affinis is thus *4->'T/0.X 

 given by Dr. Neill, in Gard. Mag,, e'^j'c'H:^"^ 

 vol. xi. p. 4.32. : — "A. affi'nis seems k^f'^^L^:"'.--^ 

 to be a variety of ^I. mollissima Ul//<1. ; ^i^lj- > 

 which variety Link regarded as a^^\1^\ '" 

 species, and called A. dealbata, but ''^' l\ * 

 which De CandoUe, in his Prodromus, marks as ' Priori (A. moUissimac) nimis 

 affinis ; ' meaning that, though he had followed Link in calling it a .species, 

 he considered it too nearly allied to A. moliissima 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 pinnae, 

 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, grovvn 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 12 ft. 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 





