400 



DECIDUOUS TREES. 



thicker in texture, more deeply lobed, as shown on Fig. 125, and 

 glossier than the leaves of the maple. 



This engraving is a portrait of a fine 

 specimen about forty years old, growing 

 in the grounds of T. S. Shepherd, Esq., 

 at Orienta, near Mamaroneck, N. Y. It 

 was transplanted to its present location 

 from an adjoining field when the trunk 

 was nearly twelve inches in diameter, 

 and has become a luxuriant tree again. 

 During the summer the tree may be 

 easily mistaken for an unusually dark 

 and glossy-leaved sugar maple, but is 

 distinguished from it not only by the 

 peculiarities of its leaves, already men- 

 tioned, but by the curious appearance of its secondary branches tO' 

 which the bark is attached in corky ridges as on the cork-barked 

 elm, giving the branches a more rugged appearance. 



The tree is found from New Hampshire to the Isthmus of 

 Darien ; but it is only at the south that a characteristic which gives 

 the tree its name is observed. A fragrant gum there exudes from 

 its bark, which resembles liquidamber, and the tree was so named 

 by the Spanish naturalist who first described it, 



Downing's enthusiastic description of this tree is so good that 

 we transcribe it for the reader. 



" We hardly know a more beautiful tree than the liquidamber 

 in every stage of its growth, and during every season of the year. 

 Its outline is not picturesque or graceful, but simply beautiful ; 

 * * * it is, therefore, a highly pleasing round-headed or taper- 

 ing tree, which unites and harmonizes well with almost any other in 

 composition ; but the chief beauty lies in the foliage. During the 

 whole of the summer months it preserves unsoiled that dark glossy 

 freshness which is so delightful to the eye ; while the singular, 

 regularly palmate form of the leaves readily distinguishes it from 

 the common trees of a plantation. But in autumn it assumes its 

 gayest livery, and is decked in colors almost too bright and vivid 

 for foliage, forming one of the most brilliant objects in American 



