Trees, Shrubs and Vines 



titudinous, half-developed leaves bursting forth from a 

 large honey-locust can only be compared to a fleecy 

 emerald cloud enshrouding the massive black trunk and 

 branches; nothing in our vegetation rivals it, except 

 the wondrous misty green of the tamarix in fall, the 

 most strikingly beautiful shrub, as regards foliage, that 

 the Park contains. 



In a tree of such temper one is surprised to find the 

 trunk horrent with dense clusters of formidable spines, 

 each spine a poignant condensation of an entire branch 

 into a rigid needle, the spines themselves branching 

 into other spines, and covering large portions of the 

 trunk, in some cases, with their horrid masses — and for 

 what earthly purpose? At least it is an interesting 

 parable of good and evil mixed in the same nature. 



Having been so lavish in foliage-beauty, nature wisely 

 withheld the crowning charm of handsome inflorescence, 

 lest the honey-locust "should be exalted above meas- 

 ure " — possibly we have here the meaning of the spines, 

 they are "thorns in the flesh"! One scarcely knows 

 when it is in blossom, it is such an insignificant matter, 

 but the minute flowers ripen nto portentous pods eight 

 to ten inches long, and an inch wide, yellowish -green 

 as they dangle from the boughs in September, but soon 

 blackening and clinging through the winter, till they 

 fall, twisted and unsightly, strewing the ground. The 

 color of bark and pod gives the name of black locust, 

 and ' ' honey ' ' locust comes from the yellow pulp in the 

 pod. The Park contains several fine clusters of this 

 species, the largest being east of the " West Drive," 

 near the Seventy-second Street entrance. 



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