DECIDUOUS TREES. 451 



the road-side at Mount Desert Island, Maine, would suppose it to 

 be a peculiarly umbrageous and elegant small tree. Height twenty 

 to thirty feet. 



THE ANDROMEDA OR SORREL TREE. Andromeda 

 arborea (Lyonia arborea of Loudon). 



This is one of the prettiest additions to our stock of small 

 ornamental trees. Although a native of 

 the States from Pennsylvania to Florida, it 

 is scarcely yet known in most home- 

 grounds. In the southern States it be- 

 comes from forty to sixty feet high; in 

 England ten to twenty feet; probably 

 twenty to forty feet in the latitude of New 

 York. It forms an umbrella-shaped top 

 with tapering branches. Fig. 152 repre- 

 sents its common form from six to eight 



years after planting. The leaves resemble those of the common 

 elder in form, color, and abundance. The flowers are in large 

 terminal panicles of many racemes, white, in June and July, and 

 cover the head of the tree in plumy profusion. The panicles of 

 seeds that succeed them also attract attention by the novelty of 

 their appearance, and their great abundance. The foliage turns to 

 a fine crimson in October. The name " sorrel tree " is given to it 

 in consequence of the pleasant acidity of its leaves. Away from 

 the mild climate of the seaboard, in the northern States, it should 

 be treated as a half-hardy tree. 



THE SUMACH. Rhus. 



The species of this family vary so widely that some of them 

 would not be supposed to have any relationship to the others if 

 judged by their general appearance. The purple fringe tree, for 

 instance, with its single clean-cut leaves, and rounded head, is the 



