Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



not advisable, having the slight additional demerits of 

 budding late in spring, and shedding its leaves quite 

 early, littering the ground with their large withered 

 forms. The small-leaved and the European species 

 are more desirable, and they are scarcely distinguish- 

 able, the main difference being a very slight variation in 

 the small flower, which will only be seen upon close 

 inspection. The flowers are cream- white and quite 

 pretty, but not very conspicuous, curiously attached to a 

 long wing that flies away with the seed in the fulness of 

 time. Their delightful fragrance lures the bees, and the 

 honey-fame of Hybla resulted from the abundant lindens 

 on its slopes. 



Catalpa. — Catalpa is the Indian name of our most 

 tropical - looking tree, with perhaps the exception of 

 some of the magnolias. Chiefly a denizen of the South 

 it is thoroughly hardy in the Northern States, and one 

 of the most generally cultivated in park and lawn. It 

 must be planted singly amid small-leaved trees, as its 

 own immense leaf is clumsy when thickly massed ; but a 

 better foil for locust, elm, and white birch could not be 

 imagined. With tropical laziness, it is one of the very 

 last to show signs of life in spring, other trees being in 

 full leaf and often past their flowering, before the ca- 

 talpa bestirs itself; but its foliage is retained well into 

 the fall, and its late flowering, in the last of June and in 

 July, which is quite a brilliant affair, helps to lengthen 

 out the inflorescent period of our trees. In our latitude 

 its figure is commonly low, spreading, and exceedingly 

 ungraceful. Like an ungainly individual most catalpas 



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