THE WAYFARING-TREE. 329 



clusters at tlie extremities of the shoots, and are succeeded 

 by flattened berries, ■which, as they ripen, become red, 

 and finally black. A modern poet, William Howitt, cap- 

 tivated by the pleasing name, has addressed an ode to the 

 Wayfaring-tree, and eulogises its " coronets of fragrant 

 snow," — a metaphor the propriety of which any one who 

 knows the tree will find it difficult to discover, the flowers 



WAYFAKING-TRH 



being by no means attractive. It would seem to owe its 

 name to the soiled appearance of its leaves, which, wher- 

 ever the tree is growing, give one the notion of its having 

 been powdered with dust from the highway. The season 

 when this tree is most conspicuous is when the berries 

 are partially ripe ; for then the scarlet and black berries 



