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FIFTY TREES FROM FOREIGN LANDS 



ELBERT L. LITTLE, JR. 



Since ancient times mankind has 

 sought out from distant parts of the 

 earth new and better farm crops, gar- 

 den plants, and trees. Many of these 

 strange trees, introduced from seeds 

 brought back by explorers and travel- 

 ers through the years, have been highly 

 successful for shade, ornament, fruits 

 and nuts, shelterbelts, lumber, and 

 other uses where the conditions for 

 growth are not too different from those 

 in their native lands. Discovery of the 

 New World made possible great inter- 

 change of trees and other plants be- 

 tween East and West. Much of the 

 early botanical exploration of North 

 America was made by horticultural 

 collectors who were hunting new plants 

 for European gardens. 



With settlement of the climatically 

 diverse portions of the United States 

 came introduction of trees from far 

 away. Naturally the colonists from 

 Europe brought their familiar shade 

 trees, most of which succeeded also in 

 eastern United States where the cli- 

 mate is similar. Examples are Norway 

 spruce, white poplar, European white 

 birch, and sycamore maple. The Yan- 

 kee Clippers and afterwards botanical 

 explorers brought back from temper- 

 ate portions of Asia other kinds, such 

 as ginkgo, Chinese scholartree, part- 

 icled goldenrain-tree, and royal pau- 

 lownia. The subtropical regions of 

 Florida, southern Texas, southern Ari- 

 zona, and California have obtained a 

 wealth of exotic trees from tropical 

 lands throughout the world. 



After some years of testing, the good 

 points and limitations of these intro- 

 duced trees, such as their degree of 

 hardiness to winter temperatures, soil 

 and moisture requirements, drought 

 resistance, tolerance to city smoke and 

 dust, and susceptibility to insects and 

 disease, have become known. Indeed, 

 some of these exotics have been so suc- 

 cessful that they have escaped from 



cultivation and have become natural- 

 ized, propagating themselves in waste 

 places, roadsides, and woods as if wild. 

 However, the native trees in any local- 

 ity, having become adapted through 

 the ages, usually are preferable to un- 

 tested exotics. 



At present more than a thousand 

 kinds, or species, of foreign trees, not 

 counting their numerous horticul- 

 tural forms, are grown in the United 

 States for shade and ornament. Addi- 

 tional thousands not yet popular have 

 been introduced in arboretums and 

 botanical gardens or have been planted 

 infrequently as specimen trees. For 

 their size, the subtropical regions from 

 Florida to California have more dif- 

 ferent kinds of exotic trees than do any 

 of the temperate regions of the United 

 States. Because of the richness of trop- 

 ical floras over the earth, many hun- 

 dred kinds of trees have become avail- 

 able to these warmer regions. 



Home owners in all parts of the 

 United States now have wide selec- 

 tions of foreign trees for planting. The 

 less familiar exotics command atten- 

 tion in contrast to the common native 

 shade trees. Improved horticultural 

 varieties, such as those with drooping 

 branches, columnar crown, odd-tinted 

 or cutleaf foliage, or distinctively col- 

 ored flowers, are available. Aristocratic 

 trees rich in history and legend may be 

 planted. Among these is the ginkgo, a 

 peculiar living fossil from China saved 

 from extinction by plantings around 

 temples through the ages. The cedar- 

 of-Lebanon, so closely associated with 

 the Holy Land and the source of the 

 beautiful wood used in King Solo- 

 mon's Temple, deserves to be planted 

 more but is not hardy in the far North. 

 The Italian cypress, the classical cy- 

 press of the ancient Greeks and the Ro- 

 mans, whose columnar shape is dis- 

 played in formal gardens, can be 

 grown in Southern and Pacific States. 



