THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



Japan to California where it is also a favourite and 

 around San Francisco it is commonly planted. 



How, when, and by what means it reached the near 

 East is not known, but in all probability by the old 

 caravan routes across central Asia. Or it may have 

 been carried by old voyagers from Canton by sea to 

 India though this is less likely. The first mention we 

 have of the tree is of a specimen collected in China 

 by James Cunningham and recorded by James 

 Petiver in his quaint work " Musei Petiveriani 

 centuria" No. 997, published in 1703, who gives its 

 Chinese name and says it is a Tree-willow with 

 pendulous foliage branches. In the neighbourhood 

 of Mt. Olympus in Asia Minor, Wheler, in his 

 "Journey in Greece and Asia Minor," p. 2 17, published 

 in 1682, tells of a tree which may have been a Weep- 

 ing Willow. But the first definite mention of this 

 tree in the Levant is by Tournefort, in his "Corol- 

 larium," page 41, published in 1719, who describes it 

 as the Oriental Willow with shoots beautifully hang- 

 ing downward. Either he or Wheler took it to 

 western Europe. It was introduced into England 

 before 1730 for in a catalogue, published by Philip 

 Miller in that year, it is stated to be on sale in 

 gardens near London. Peter Collinson, whom we 

 mentioned when writing about the Horsechestnut, 

 was of the opinion that it was introduced by Mr. 



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