TREES OF AMERICA. 169 



to green-houses, where plants arid trees are 

 kept for sale : there is a very fine collection 

 of curious plants kept by Mr. Thorburn, in 

 Liberty-street in New- York, and I have no 

 doubt you would find the Pride of India 

 there. 



" In the streets of Savannah and Charleston 

 it is as common as poplars are in the northern 

 cities and towns ; and it grows to a good size, 

 too ; from thirty to forty feet high, and fifteen 

 or twenty inches in thickness. The leaves 

 are of a dark green, small, sharp-pointed, and 

 notched at the edges, very much like a rose 

 leaf, in fact ; and they grow upon long stems, 

 in pairs, that is, one on each side, with a 

 single leaf at the end ; there are generally 

 five or seven on each stem : the flowers are 

 small, somewhat like those of the lilach, and 

 their smell is delightful. The seeds grow in 

 small clusters or bunches; they^are round, 

 and of a yellowish colour, and nearly as large 

 as a cherry. Some birds are very fond of 

 them, especially red-breasts ; but they have a 

 stupifying quality, like opium, and after eat- 

 ing great quantities, the birds are often so over- 

 come by it that they fall to the ground. 



The Pride of India is one of the fastest 



p 



