22 INTRODUCTION. [17, 18. 



ing into branches at or near the surface of the ground 

 (Alder, Quince). If the woody plant be limited to a 

 still lower growth, say about the human stature, it is 

 called a bush (Snowball, Andromeda). If still smaller, 

 it is an undershrub (b) (Whortleberry). 



46. A tree (5) is understood to attain to a height 

 many times greater than the human stature, with a 

 permanent woody stem, whose lower part, the trunk, 

 is unbranched. 



47. As to age, some trees live only a few years, rapidly attaining their 

 growth and rapidly decaying, as the Peach ; others have a longevity exceed- 

 ing the age of man ; and some species outlive many generations. Age may be 

 estimated by the number of wood-circles or rings seen in a cross-section of the 

 trunk ( 408), each ring being (very generally) an annual growth. Instances 

 of great longevity are on record. See Class Book of Botany, 99, 100. The 

 monarch tree of the world is the Calif ornian Cedar Sequoia gigant^a. One 

 which had fallen measured 26 feet in diameter, and 363 in length! The 

 wood-circles of this specimen are unusually thick, yet count up to 1,330. 

 Among those yet standing, are many of even greater dimensions, as beautiful 

 in form as they are sublime in height the growth, probably, of more than 

 2,000 years. One of the Sequoias is estimated at 1,500 years ; another of 

 these monsters, felled in 1875, had 2,130 rings ; still another was estimated 

 by Dr. Gray to be 3,200 years old. One of these monster tree's has recently 

 been discovered, in Tulare County, California, by an engineer of the Comstock 

 mines, that measures more than 56 feet in diameter at a point seven feet 

 from the ground. 



48. Trees are again distinguished as deciduous (b) 

 and evergreen (b) the former losing their foliage in 

 Autumn, and remaining naked until the following 

 Spring; the latter retaining their leaves and verdure 

 throughout all seasons. The Fir tribe (Coniferse) in- 

 cludes nearly all the evergreens of the North ; those 

 of the South are far more numerous in kind e. g., 

 the Magnolias, the Live-oaks, Holly, Cherry, Palmetto, 

 etc. 



