TRAVELER'S TREE 



TRAVELER'S TREE. See Ravenala. 



TREASURE VINE. Name proposed by J. L. Childs 

 for llidalgoa Wercklei or C'hildsia Werckli i. 



TREE. Candelabrum, or Chandelier T., Pandnnus 

 Candelabrum. 



TREE OF HEAVEN. See Ailantlius. 



TREES. Plate XLIV. Figs. 2551-2566. -What is a 

 tree ? is a question to which it is not easy to give a 

 short and well-defined answer. The same species may 

 assume a tree-like habit or remain shrubby, according 

 to the climatic conditions, soil and other circumstances. 

 Usually a tree is defined as a woody plant rising from 



TREES 



1833 



more. The Sequoias are of more majestic ami irigantic 

 appearance than the Eucalyptus on account of its mas- 

 sive trunk (see Sequoia, p. Kitid). /.-, !>, txmja Douglasi 

 and Pt,nus Lambrrt'tit occasionally RtUta 300 feet. A 

 number of other conifers, chiefly American, grow to a 

 height of 150 to 300 feet. Some deciduous trees, as Pla- 

 tanus occidentals*, several species of oak and Lirioden- 

 dron fuhpifera exceed 150 feet in height. The jequitiba 

 of Southern Brazil (Couratari legalis, one of the Myr- 

 taceae) is also a gigantic tree (see Bot. Gaz. 31, p. 352). 

 I he greatest diameter has been observed in Castanea 

 vesca, of which a tree with a partly decayed trunk at 

 the foot of Mt. Etna in Sicily measures more than 60 

 feet in diameter. After this the greatest diameter ob- 

 served is in Taxodium mueronatum, about 40 feet, 

 and in Platanus orientalis about the same, in Sequoia 



2551. A pasture elm. 



the ground under normal conditions with a single stem 

 and attaining a certain height, fixed by some at 20, by 

 others at 15 feet, or even less. A more exact definition 

 has been given by B. E. Fernow: "Trees are woody 

 plants the seed of which has the inherent capacity of 

 producing naturally within their native limits one main 

 erect axis continuing to grow for a number of years 

 more vigorously than the lateral axes and the lower 

 branches dying off in time." 



Trees are the most prominent feature of the vegetable 

 world and surpass all other organic beings in height, 

 magnitude and longevity. The greatest height known 

 has been reached by Eucalyptus <i ii/t/<l<tlina of Aus- 

 tralia, of which trees have been observed that were 470 

 feet high. In length, but not in body and longevity, 

 even this tree is surpassed by some giant floating algae 

 said to attain the length of 900 feet, and by some climb- 

 ing palms of Java attaining, sometimes, COO feet. Fol- 

 lowing Eucalyptus amygdalina is probably Sequoia 

 seini'rriri'ns, which attains 325 feet and occasionally 



gigantea 35 feet, in Taxodium distichum 30 feet, and 

 somewhat less in .I'lintsnnin digitata. 



The age attributed to many of the tallest trees is 

 based more or less on speculation, and opinions often 

 differ widely. Drac&na Draco is believed to reach 6,000 

 years of age, Adansonia digitata 5.000, Taxodium mu- 

 cronatum and Platanus 4,000, Cupressus sempervirens 

 and Tains baccata 3,000, Castanea sativa, Quercut 

 pedunculata, Sequoia gigantea and Cednts Libani more 

 than 2,000 years. 



Although the trees are the most conspicuous features 

 of the vegetable kingdom, they represent only a small 

 percentage of it as regards the number of species. In 

 the United States, where about 550 trees occur, they 

 represent only about 3% per cent of the whole phanero- 

 gamic flora, in Europe even .less. As a rule, towards 

 tin- tropics the number of tree-like species incn 

 towards the arctic regions it decreases. Remarkably rich 

 in trees is the flora of Japan, where the proportion of 

 trees to the whole phanerogamic flora is more than 10 



