Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



Tulip-tree. — Singularly tall — reaching in the West 

 an altitude of nearly two hundred feet — compact, cylin- 

 drical, and as painfully symmetrical as a freshly trimmed 

 privet hedge, is the tulip -tree, towering high above 

 everything in the Park except the cottonwoods. It has 

 the prim, expressionless figure of an arborvitse, its squar- 

 ish leaf is the most ungraceful of any of our foliage, and, 

 on the whole, without having given me any direct cause 

 for irritation, the tulip-tree rather annoys me. Others, 

 whose sense of beauty is quite as reliable as mine, greatly 

 admire it. Truth to tell, it is a very healthy tree, free 

 from insects — even the bugs don't like it — and when in 

 full bloom it makes a showy appearance. Its name 

 comes from the immense tulip-shaped flower, yellow and 

 orange, and from its no less tulip-shaped fruit, erect and 

 adhering to the tree all winter long. A large tree 

 loaded with these dry slender cups makes a not unpleas- 

 ing appearance. 



When oak, elm, and birch begin to look shabby in 

 fall, this tree's foliage is in luxuriant contrast. Un- 

 doubtedly its greatest success is in the brief period of 

 October, when, amid the browns and reds and greens of 

 a brilliant landscape, tall, full-foliaged shafts of golden 

 yellow, alive with fluttering leaves, here and there shoot 

 up above the dogwoods, oaks, and hickories — they are 

 tulip-trees, like giant torches bringing into full rehef the 

 deeper hues of the surrounding woods. 



Hop-tree. — Half shrub, half tree, the wafer ash or 

 hop-tree adorns many a niche that calls for something 

 more assertive than a shrub, yet too small for the more 



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