94 CONVERSATIONS ON THE 



contain little black seeds. The franklinia is 

 very much like the loblolly bay, only a great 

 deal smaller ; it generally grows to about 

 thirty feet high, and the trunk is six or eight 

 inches thick. The flower is white, and very 

 sweet-smelling, and consists of five leaves, 

 with a yellow spot in the centre as large as a 

 shilling. The fruit is something like a hazel- 

 nut, only not so hard ; and it has five seams 

 at the top, that open when it is ripe, and let 

 out the seeds, which are very small. All 

 these trees are ever-greens. Do you know 

 what is meant by an ever-green ?" 



" Oh yes, Uncle Philip ; a tree that has 

 green leaves in winter as well as summer : 

 the leaves do not fall off or change their 

 colour when the cold weather comes ; the 

 laurel is an ever-green, and so is the box that 

 grows in the gardens." 



" Very true ; and now, as I have been 

 telling you about ever-greens, there are two 

 others that I will describe to yon, although 

 they do not belong to the magnolias, and in 

 fact can hardly be called trees at all, for they 

 seldom grow more than ten or eleven feet 

 high. 



"It is the laurel that you mentioned just 



