192 RARE TREES IN ABBOTSBURT CASTLE GARDENS. 



dwarf, not more than 3 or 4 feet high, sending up numerous suckers, 

 but if these are not allowed to grow, the tree will produce a trunk 

 several feet high. 



Aralia. 



The Aralia belongs to a sub-order of the Umbelliflorte, differing 

 from the Umbellifers in its seed, which is in the form of a berry 

 ox drupe. The family is a large one, with varied foliage and stems 

 pvickly or smooth. It first appeared in the Upper Cretaceous beds 

 of North America, Greenland, Siberia, and sparingly in Europe. 

 4.formosa occurs in Europe and in Colorado. The number of species 

 increased during the Tertiary period, some of which extended as 

 far east as the Himalaya. The Aralias are now restricted to the 

 Eastern States of North America, New Zealand, Japan, and 

 are chiefly tropical. The best known species is A. spinosa (which 

 grows freely in these gardens). The four others which grow here 

 are A. Sieholdi, with large coriaceous leaves, A. Mandshwia, A. 

 Chinensis, and A. pentaphyUa. 



The Common Ivy belongs to this Order. Its first appearance 

 was in the Upper Cretaceous beds of North America and Green- 

 land. Hedera primordialis, Sap., of the same age differs little from 

 the Irish Ivy, and jST. platanoides, Lesq., from the Cretaceous beds 

 of Kansas is fouiid in the tufas of Denmark and of La Celle, 

 South of France. 



JUGLANS. 



The Walnut family passed from the Upper Cretaceous, through 

 the Tertiary, to the Quaternary Age. It has been found in the 

 Upper Cretaceous beds of Greenland and Atane, and in the 

 Tertiary beds of the polar circle. J. arctica from the Upper 

 Cretaceous beds of Greenland is probably the ancestor of /. nigra, 

 the Black Walnut now living in North America. The Walnut is 

 no longer indigenous in Europe except in the mountainous districts 

 of Greece. It extends from tlie Trans-Caucasus to the East Indies. 

 /. laciniata is a variety of the Common Walnut, /. regia. The 

 Miocene beds of QCningen have furnished /. acuminata, and the 

 tufas of the South of France, /. minor. 



