602 GYMNOCLADUS HALESIA 



grey-green and hairy beneath, principally on the veins and midrib. The tree 

 fs dioecious, the panicles of the female tree being 8 to 12 ins. long, 3 to 4 ins. 

 wide, narrowly pyramidal ; flowers downy, f to I in. long ; petals greenish 

 white, calyx not quite so long as the flower, tubular at the. base, with five linear 

 teeth. In the male tree the inflorescence is about one-third the length of the 

 females. Pod 6 to 10 ins. long, i to 2 ins. wide. 



Native of the eastern and Central United States ; cultivated in England 

 before the middle of the eighteenth century. In its foliage it is perhaps the 

 most beautiful of all hardy trees. It evidently needs more summer heat than 

 it gets here, for there are fine specimens both in France and Germany 

 'suggesting in their leafless state the habit and branching of the horse chestnut. 

 In autumn a curious effect is produced by the leaflets falling off and leaving 

 the common stalk on the branches for some time. In winter, young trees have 

 a very distinct and rather gaunt appearance, the branches being few, thick, 

 and rough. The finest tree in England appears to be at Claremont, which is 

 60 ft. high and 7 ft. in girth of trunk, and flowers frequently. The common 

 name is said to have originated through the people of Kentucky and Tennessee 

 at one time roasting and grinding the seeds to make a beverage like coffee. 



Var. VARIEGATA. Leaves slightly marked with white spots ; apparently 

 of little value in this country. 



HALESIA. SNOWDROP TREES. STYRACE.E. 



In British gardens the snowdrop trees are almost exclusively repre- 

 sented by the beautiful H. Carolina; but a second species, H. diptera, 

 is sometimes seen ; whilst a third, H. PARVIFLORA, Michaux, a native of 

 S. Georgia and Florida, is not known in cultivation, and but little in a 

 wild state. The leading characteristics of the genus are the pendulous 

 snowdrop-like flowers, produced in clusters on the previous year's wood, 

 and the winged fruits. Leaves alternate, deciduous, the down with which 

 they and other young parts are more or less furnished being stellate. 

 The genus was named in honour of Dr Stephen Hales, a learned author, 

 who was born at Bekesbourne, in Kent, in 1671, and died at Teddington 

 in 1761. The Halesias like a moist, well-drained, loamy soil, and thrive 

 best in a sheltered, sunny position. Propagation is by seeds and layers. 

 AU three species are native of the south-eastern United States. 



Pterostyrax (q.v.} is a small group of North Asiatic trees and shrubs, 

 sometimes united with Halesia, but very well marked by differences 

 pointed out in the notes on the genus. From the also nearly allied 

 Styrax, Halesia differs in the winged fruits and inferior ovary. 



H. CAROLINA, Linnceus. SNOWDROP or SlLVER-BELL TREE. 



(H. tetraptera, Ellis.') 



A deciduous tree, 20 to 30 ft. high in this country ; said to be occasionally 

 twice as high in its native places, with a trunk 3 ft. in thickness. With us it is 

 of spreading habit, often a shrub ; young shoots at first clothed with stellate 

 down. Leaves oval to obovate, wedge-shaped or rounded at the base, abruptly 

 taper-pointed, minutely toothed ; 2 to 5 ins. long, f to 2^ ins. wide, thickly 

 covered beneath with grey stellate down, less so above ; stalk to f in. long, 

 downy. Flowers produced in May on slender, downy, pendulous stalks ^ to I 

 in. long, in clusters of three to five from the joints of the naked, year-old wood. 



