THE ACACIA 135 



section and bear no visible buds, for these are minute 

 and are covered, with the exception only of a small 

 opening above, by the enlarged and downy margins 

 of the base of the leaf-stalk. Thus hidden, they are 

 grouped together, from two to five, one above the other 

 in a single leaf-axil. Only the uppermost develops as 

 a rule, though others occasionally burst through the 

 leaf-scar lower down. 



The leaves consist of from four to nine pairs of 

 shortly-stalked egg-shaped leaflets and a terminal one, 

 in all eight, nine, or twelve inches long, the individual 

 leaflets often exceeding an inch in length. Their late 

 appearance and early fall is one of the chief drawbacks 

 to the planting of the tree for ornamental purposes ; 

 but they have the countervailing advantage of being 

 so smooth that the least shower cleans them of what 

 little dirt can adhere to them, so that in the metro- 

 polis, or other large towns, they appear fresh and 

 verdant in July and August, when most other foliage 

 has become dull and soot-begrimed. The leaflets, 

 like those of so many of the Leguminosce, close at 

 night or in wet weather in what is termed " sleep," 

 being then folded in a vertical plane, as when in 

 the bud, and hanging below their attachments. 



It is not to be supposed that much folk-lore should 

 be associated with a tree of such recent introduction 

 into Europe as the Acacia ; but it is in connection 

 with its fragrant clusters of pure white blossoms that 

 this tree enters into the symbolism of the aborigines 

 of its native land. The North-American Indian 

 presents a blossoming branch of the Acacia to the 

 lady of his choice as a declaration of his love. In 



