FRAXINUS HALESIA. 239 



FRAXINUS. 



Ash. 



The Ash is a well-known valuable timber tree, and suitable 

 for avenues, but not for the shrubbery, unless on a large scale. 



The Weeping Ash, or F. pendula, is a variety of F. excel- 

 sior, first discovered in a field at Gamblingay, Cambridgeshire, 

 England. This is propagated by grafting, or inarching upon 

 the common Ash. It looks well in the shrubbery, but more 

 particularly upon a lawn by itself; the branches will droop to 

 the ground, and form a handsome weeping head. There are 

 other varieties, with curled or variegated leaves, which are 

 desirable in making up an extensive collection. 



HALESIA. 



Snow-drop Tree. 



Halesia tetraptera. Four-winged Halesia. A native of 

 Carolina, where it is found growing on the banks of rivers. It 

 is an ornamental shrub, five or six feet high, valuable for its 

 early flowering in May. The flower hangs in small bunches 

 all along the branches, each bud producing from four to eight 

 or nine ; they appear before the leaves, and are of a snowy 

 whiteness, and last for two or three weeks. 



Halesia diptera. Two-winged Silver Bell Tree. This 

 species is described in Downing's first volume of the Horticul- 

 turist as follows : " The present species is a much rarer one 

 than the last. Its native country is Georgia and Carolina, but it 

 is hardy here, and is well entitled to a prominent place in the 

 pleasure-grounds. It differs very strongly from the common 

 species, in both the larger size and the purer white of the flow- 

 ers, and also in foliage, which is twice as broad as that of the 

 four-winged sorts. The seeds have, as the name indicates, 



