460 THE MAGAZINE OF HORTICULTURE. 



affected with profound regret. But had the elm, the ash, or 

 the oak, instead of the buttonwood, been similarly affected, 

 we should have regarded it as a still greater public calamity. 

 The buttonwood is only a second-rate tree, having an inele- 

 gant foliage, a scattered ramification, and a coarse spray, 

 hardly affording shelter to the birds that seldom build their 

 nests in its unaccommodating branches. We may account 

 for the frequency of the buttonwoods, at the period preceding 

 their decay, by supposing that the inferior value of their 

 timber lessened the temptation of avarice to destroy them ; 

 while the more beautiful and valuable oaks, maples and ash 

 trees were cut down to be used for fuel and in the arts. 

 While, therefore, we look upon the fatality that has attended 

 them with regret, we may be consoled by the reflection that 

 it may be an inducement with the present generation to plant 

 a superior tree in their place, for the benefit of posterity. 



The buttonwood belongs to a genus in which there are 

 only three known species, and these constitute a whole fam- 

 ily. This tree is remarkable for its lofty height and superior 

 size, for its large palmate leaves, and its globular fruit, and 

 inflorescence. I think they err, however, who attribute to it 

 any extraordinary density of foliage, which seems to me to 

 be rather sparse, in comparison with that of many other in- 

 digenous trees. The leaves are not numerous, and their 

 large size is only sufficient to render the whole mass of me- 

 dium density. In the South, where it still flourishes in its 

 pristine health and vigor, I took pains, a few years since, to 

 compare it with other shade trees in that region, and must 

 confess that it seemed to me to be surpassed in this respect 

 by the greater number. Still it may be admitted, in the 

 language of Emerson, that "the plane is the largest, grandest 

 and loftiest deciduous tree in America. It has a magnificent 

 columnar trunk. For a short distance from the ground, it 

 diminishes with a rapid but regular curve, which gives it a 

 base of vast stability : thence, with a scarcely perceptible 

 taper, a shaft rises high in the air, bearing its light green top 

 aloft, above the summit of the other trees of the forest," 



The foliage of the buttonwood is of a very light green — 



